Yesterday, the world's largest experiment - the Large Hadron Collider at Cern - was restarted after 14 months of repairs.
Full details of the LHC restart can be seen on the BBC News online (and they also have a guide to the LHC).
The University of Sussex's involvement in the Large Hadron Collider is detailed here, and the scientists involved are willing to talk to your school about it! See our outreach offerings for information.
Sussex physics graduate Debbie Hill has been named best overall student of the year, and lecturer Dr Mike Hardiman has been named best lecturer of the year, in the 2009 Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) awards. Debbie also won the National Physical Laboratory Award for the Best Physics Student.
Mike leads the outreach efforts here at the University of Sussex's Department of Physics & Astronomy, while Debbie is equally enthusiastic, having recently spent a day helping a group of 15 year olds build their own cloud chambers, allowing the students to see cloud tracks created by otherwise invisible radiation.
Mike and Debbie both carry out research on the neutron-EDM experiment, part of a major physics experiment in Grenoble, France. The nEDM experiment ultimately aims to answer the question of why there is more matter than antimatter in the universe, by finding if a small asymmetry exists within the neutron itself.
More details at the University of Sussex news page.
On the 14th of July, 2009, over 50 teachers from around the region came to visit the University of Sussex, to see the launch of outreach offerings from the department of Physics & Astronomy.
Activities included:
The event was a tremendous success, and everyone enjoyed themselves! We also got lots of valuable feedback from visitors, and ideas to put into our program for next year.
We'd like to thanks all those who made the effort to come and visit, and we really value your thoughts and ideas. And we look forward to seeing you all again at some point in the future, either here on campus, or at your school.
Under-graduate students Nick and Darren (left), and lecturer Jon Loveday (right), all from the Physics & Astronomy department of the University of Sussex, show off the selection of telescopes available for visiting schools to use.
Welcome to the Physics & Astronomy Outreach blog, here at the University of Sussex!
This blog will contain...
We hope you will enjoy reading the blog, and if you do have any ideas or suggestions, please let us know at physicsoutreach@sussex.ac.uk