Kent Physics Centre
Annual Lectures 2010 - 2011
October 5th 2010 @ 7.30pm
Civil and Structural Engineering: much success and some failures
Speaker: Frank Weare, Retired Civil Engineer, University of Westminster
Abstract
This illustrated lecture will examine some past and future projects. It includes buildings, bridges and storage
structures. The darker side of failures will be considered.
Frank Weare CEng MSc DIC FIStructE MICE MIHE MIM: Frank is a Member of Council of the Institution of
Structural Engineers and for many years was a senior lecturer in Civil and Structural Engineering at the University
of Westminster. Frank now works as a consultant structural engineer and visiting lecturer specializing in structural
steelwork design.
October 19th 2010 @ 7.30pm
Physics and Medicine: A Historical Perspective
Speaker: Dr Stephen Keevil
King’s College London
Abstract
Medical physics developed during the twentieth century alongside increasing use of ionising radiations and
imaging in medicine. However this picture conceals a much older and richer relationship, encompassing ancient
Egyptian surgery, Leonardo, and seventeenth century mechanistic philosophy. This historical perspective helps us
to appreciate the breadth of the current and potential future, role of physics in medicine.
November 2nd 2010 @ 7.30pm
“Dafty” and Electromagnetism: What a Revolution (joint meeting with SEKAS)
Speaker: Dr Ken Smith
School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent
Abstract
James Clerk Maxwell had to endure considerable verbal humour at his expense, and was nicknamed ‘Dafty’. His
school and College contemporaries found him somewhat of an oddball with strange interests in mechanisms and
natural phenomena. Today he would be called a ‘nerd’.
His insight and contributions to theoretical physics were vast. Einstein had Maxwell’s portrait on his office wall
and said of him, ‘He was the Newton of Electricity’.
Maxwell not only established the electromagnetic theory of light, which subsequently brought about the huge
electromagnetic and electronic revolutions of the 20th century onwards, but triggered off Einstein to establish
Special Relativity - a most significant break with Classical Physics. He established the basis for colour photography
and the nature of Saturn‘s rings. The electrical advances of the nineteenth century in experimental and
theoretical physics, it might well be argued, are the last great revolutions in classical physics which, in effect, led
to those remarkable modern physics breakthroughs of relativity and quantum theory.
November 30th 2010 @ 11am & repeated at 2.30pm
2010 Christmas Science Lectures for Children of all ages - Gulbenkian Theatre
Sponsored by the Institute of Physics
The Magic of Bubbles
Demonstration Lecture
Speaker: Dr Cyril Isenberg
School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent
Abstract
Spectacular giant bubbles, bubble surfaces, magic colours and vibrational waves produced by soap films will be
demonstrated, examined and explained.
In addition their application to solving communication and roadway problems will be demonstrated.
£1 per child, booking essential
Gulbenkian Booking Office 01227 769075
Please pay at time of booking
December 1st 2010 @ 11am & repeated at 2.30pm
2010 Christmas Science Lectures for Children of all ages - Gulbenkian Theatre
Sponsored by the Institute of Physics
Electricity and X - Rays
Demonstration Lecture
Speaker Dr Stuart Field
Retired Consultant Radiologist
Honorary Professor at the University of Kent
Abstract
This spectacular demonstration lecture is a mixture of historical information, practical demonstrations of high
voltage electricity, and historical X – ray equipment, shortly after the discovery of X - rays. Stuart will be assisted
by Paul Allum and colleagues from the Medical Physics Department at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
£1 per child, booking essential
Gulbenkian Booking Office 01227 769075 Please pay at time of booking
February 1st 2011 @ 7.30pm
Testing the Dark Energy Paradigm and Beyond (joint meeting with SEKAS)
Speaker: Professor Ofer Lahav
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London
Abstract
One of the greatest mysteries in the whole of science is the prospect that 75% of the Universe is made from a
mysterious substance known as ‘Dark Energy ‘,which causes an acceleration of the cosmic expansion. The lecture
will review the current evidence for Dark Energy and future international projects such as the Dark Energy Survey.
February 22nd 2011 @ 7.30pm
Antique English Clocks
Speaker: Professor Ted Parker
School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent
Abstract
This talk traces the progress of domestic clockmaking in this country , from the late 16th to the 19th centuries – a
period, where for much of the time, the skills of the craftsmen involved, particularly those in London, and the
quality of their work, were second to none. It is illustrated with numerous slides. Although it refers fairly briefly to
characters such as Robert Hooke and Thos. Tompion, it focuses more on aspects of design and decoration than on
scientific matters.
April 19th 2011 @ 7.30pm
Colour Vision
This is a demonstration lecture
Speaker: Mohamed Sobhy
School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent
Abstract
Colour Vision involves Physics, Physiology, Psychology and Neurology. It is not enough to relate each colour to a
specific wavelength as may be implied by studying the visible spectrum. The presentation will explain, through
demonstrations and examples, how humans perceive colours.
The presentation will include:






The artist’s and photographer’s view of colours through the colour wheel, additive and subtractive
processes.
The Trichromatic colour model and its development since Maxwell’s demonstration in 1861.
The results of Guild and Wright which lead to the CIE colour map.
The application of the CIE colour map in colour mixing, lighting and computers.
The Opponent colour theory and its application.
Cone Fundamentals and the more recent results of Stockman and Sharpe.

Adaptation.
The lecture will be of interest to the following categories of listeners:
o
o
o
o
Physicists interested in Calorimetry and Photonics.
Multimedia students and researchers interested in colour in computers, monitors, photography,
cinematography and colour spaces.
Artists interested in colour harmony and colour gamut.
Psychologists and neuroscientists interested in how the brain interprets colour.
Any person interested in how humans perceive colours.
May 17th 2011 @ 7.30pm
Studying Materials with Neutrons
Speaker: Professor Neal Skipper
Condensed Matter and Material Physics Group, University College London
Abstract
It is 75 years since James Chadwick won the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the neutron. In this talk I
will describe how modern neutron sources, such as the ISIS Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, can be
used to investigate biological and physical materials. Topics to be discussed will include order and excitations in
materials, imaging (for example, in engines), seeing magnetic structures, and phase changes in matter.
Applications of such work include the storage of hydrogen, which could have a big impact in a future hydrogenbased economy.