Twitter: @OxfordPhysics
Site: podcasts.ox.ac.uk/units/department-physics
18 episodes
2012 to 2019
Average episode: 42 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Physics • Talk/Seminar Series
Podcaster's summary: The Department of Physics public lecture series. An exciting series of lectures about the research at Oxford Physics take place throughout the academic year. Looking at topics diverse as the creation of the universe to the science of climate change. | | Features episodes previously published as: | (1) 'Oxford Physics Alumni': "Informal interviews with physics alumni at events, lectures and other alumni related activities." | (2) 'Physics and Philosophy: Arguments, Experiments and a Few Things in Between': "A series which explores some of the links between physics and philosophy, two of the most fundamental ways with which we try to answer our questions about the world around us. A number of the most pertinent topics which bridge the disciplines are discussed - the nature of space and time, the unpredictable results of quantum mechanics and their surprising consequences and perhaps most fundamentally, the nature of the mind and how far science can go towards explaining and understanding it. Featuring interviews with Dr. Christopher Palmer, Prof. Frank Arntzenius, Prof. Vlatko Vedral, Dr. David Wallace and Prof. Roger Penrose."
| Episodes |
| 2019-Dec-20 • 85 minutes IceCube: Opening a New Window on the Universe from the South Pole Particle Physics Christmas Lecture, hosted by Prof. Daniela Bortoletto, Head of Particle Physics and senior members of the department with guest speaker, Professor Francis Halzen. Professor Francis Halzen is Wisconsin IceCube Particle Astrophysics Center and Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin - Madison. Prof Halzen is a theoretician studying problems at the interface of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. In 1987 he began working on the AMANDA experiment, a prototype neutrino telesco... |
| 2017-Nov-20 • 75 minutes The State of the Universe Our Universe was created in 'The Big Bang' and has been expanding ever since. Professor Schmidt describes the vital statistics of the Universe, and tries to make sense of the Universe's past, present, and future. |
| 2016-Jan-06 • 44 minutes Seeing the High Energy Universe with IceCube Members of the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics hosted the 3rd morning of Theoretical Physics covering the subject of Inner Space Meets Outer Space: Covering the Connections Between Cosmology and Particle Physics |
| 2015-Nov-24 • 52 minutes The Einstein Lens and a Tale of Two Eclipses Physics Colloquium 20th November 2015 delivered by Professor Tom Ray This year marks the centenary of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. As is well known, physicists became convinced that Einstein was right after Eddington’s and Dyson’s famous expedition to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight. Recently the speaker has found the equipment that proved critical in testing Einstein’s theory after it being lost for almost 70 years. Remarkably its discovery has led to the finding that earlier ... |
| 2015-Feb-12 • 40 minutes LHC searches for dark matter Members of the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics hosted the 6th morning of Theoretical Physics covering the ways in which ideas from theoretical particle physics guide the high energy accelerator program at CERN |
| 2015-Feb-12 • 33 minutes Precision Studies of the Higgs Members of the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics hosted the 6th morning of Theoretical Physics covering the ways in which ideas from theoretical particle physics guide the high energy accelerator program at CERN |
| 2015-Feb-12 • 39 minutes The Standard Model and the LHC! in the Higgs Boson Era Members of the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics hosted the 6th morning of Theoretical Physics covering the ways in which ideas from theoretical particle physics guide the high energy accelerator programme at CERN. |
| 2014-Apr-07 • 57 minutes Turning in the Widening Gyre: Accretion Processes in the Universe Inaugural Lecture by Professor Steven Balbus looking at the history of the universe A one sentence summary of much of the history of our Universe might be that it is the formation of ever more complex and compact structure from a diffuse background. The build-up of a compact core of material from more tenuous surroundings is known as accretion, and it is a process common to much of astrophysics, from the early creation of giant clusters of galaxies to current star, planet, and black hole formation. In this ... |
| 2014-Apr-07 • 66 minutes Lorenz Gödel and Penrose: new perspectives on determinism and unpredictability, from fundamental physics to the science of climate change The 9th Dennis Sciama Memorial Lecture, looking at chaos theory and climate change Lorenz is one of the pioneers of chaos theory. However, over 50 years before Lorenz, Poincaré discovered the sensitive dependence on initial conditions that characterises chaos. So what makes Lorenz’s contribution so important? I argue it is the discovery of the fractal invariant set in state space: the Lorenz attractor. Quite amazingly, properties of the Lorenz attractor can be shown to link the calculus of dynamical systems... |
| 2014-Apr-07 • 57 minutes Building stars, planets and the ingredients for life between the stars Halley Lecture 2013 by Professor Dr Ewine van Dishoeck on new developments in astronomy One of the most exciting developments in astronomy is the discovery of planets around stars other than our Sun. Nearly 1000 exo-planets have now been detected. But how do these planets form, and why are they so different from our own solar system? Which ingredients are available to build them? How are their parent stars formed? Thanks to powerful new telescopes, astronomers are starting to address these age-old questions... |
| 2014-Apr-07 • 63 minutes The Fast Track to Finding an Inhabited Exoplanet The 8th Hintze Lecture by Professor David Charbonneau looking at investigating habitable exoplanets. The investigation of planets orbiting other stars has moved from the study of gas giants to the hunt for smaller planets that are predominantly rock and ice in composition. When such Planets are discovered in edge-on orbits, such that the planet and star undergo mutual eclipses, scientists granted the opportunity to determine directly the planetary masses and sizes. Most interestingly, we can study starlight... |
| 2012-Nov-14 • 57 minutes Radiation and Reason Professor Wade Allison gives a talk about his book 'Radiation and Reason; The Impact of Science on a Culture of Fear'. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |
| 2012-Jul-30 • 16 minutes Space and Time Prof. Frank Arntzenius on whether space and time are absolute entities or simply relational properties derived from the idea of motion - an old debate between Newton and Leibniz, carried on today. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |
| 2012-Jul-30 • 14 minutes Quantum Paradoxes Prof. Vlatko Vedral on the mind-boggling and paradoxical nature of quantum mechanics and its consequences on modern technology - the possibilities of superfast computing and teleportation. This interview was recorded via Skype, so is of a lower audio quality than the other podcasts in this series. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |
| 2012-Jul-30 • 9 minutes Physics and Philosophy: An Introduction On the inextricable links between physics and philosophy and the ways in which one can lead to the other - how they complement each other in answering the big questions. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |
| 2012-Jul-30 • 15 minutes Parallel Worlds Dr. David Wallace on the many-worlds theory, an explanation of the baffling results that quantum mechanics provides us with - and that there may be more worlds than just our own. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |
| 2012-Jul-30 • 10 minutes From Argument to Experiment Dr Christopher Palmer on the historical ties between physics and philosophy - from ancient philosophical thought through to the scientific revolution and the pioneers of modern physics. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |
| 2012-Jul-30 • 25 minutes Consciousness and Computability Prof. Sir Roger Penrose on the idea of artificial intelligence and whether consciousness can be replicated by a computer - a discussion of new physics which may take us closer to explaining the mind. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/... |