6
The newspaper of the physics community Follow us on Twitter and Facebook: http://twitter.com/ physicsnews www.facebook.com/ instituteofphysics Diamond ring puts heart into quantum computing A proof-of-concept device that could play a key role in an optical quantum network has been built and tested at cryogenic temperatures. A paper on the research is in IOP Publishing’s New Journal of Physics. The device, like the one pictured, consists of a single nitrogen-vacancy centre within a diamond micro-ring resonator 4.5 μm in diameter, coupled to a photonic waveguide. ioppublishing.org IOP booklet is positive about antimatter A new booklet about antimatter has been published by the IOP. Antimatter – a review of its role in the universe and its applications outlines past and current research and its uses and potential in fields as diverse as medicine and particle physics. For a copy of the booklet, e-mail [email protected] or visit the IOP’s website. www.iop.org/publications Physics in a flash ANTIMATTER A review of its role in the universe and its applications Andrei Faraon/NJP March 2013 Physics in Africa put in spot light Physics teachers in Africa have a huge appetite for training in practical work and the equipment to support it, a group of IOP volunteers explained at a gathering in London to discuss the IOP’s Physics for Development programme. But while the programme has made substantial progress in the last eight years, much more could be done with increased resources, they said, and the IOP is appealing for more donations. UK-based volunteers who act as IOP international co-ordinators in African countries were joined at the meeting on 22 February by Charles Appiah, IOP national co-ordinator in Ghana, and Richard de Grijs, national co-ordinator in China, while David Wolfe, interna- tional co-ordinator for South Africa, participated via Skype. The IOP’s projects in Africa involve volunteers running workshops on teach- ing physics through practical work, using simple equipment transported from the UK or made locally through IOP resource centres. Volunteers provide training at the resource centres or elsewhere, often in partnership with other bodies or the local ministry of education. Appiah said: “In Ghana and most African countries there is a serious shortage of physics teachers, par- ticularly in the rural areas.” The IOP’s involvement had come at the right time for Ghana just as its government was moving towards a greater emphasis on science education, and its efforts had been well received, he said. Workshops had so far been held in five of the coun- try’s 10 regions and there were con- stant requests to cover the rest. Volunteers explained that most phys- ics teaching in African schools was highly theoretical, with some teachers never having been trained in practical work and many schools having little equipment or apparatus going unused because of lack of training. Providing equipment and running training work- shops had to go hand in hand, they said. Several spoke of the huge efforts that teachers made to attend training. In South Sudan, where girls have a higher chance of dying in childbirth than start- ing secondary school, one teacher had built a raft to cross a river and another had waded a river in flood to get to the course, the country’s IOP international co-ordinator, Gerry Blake, said. The programme began after David Richardson, IOP international co- ordinator for Rwanda, visited the coun- try in 2004 and was shocked by the lack of equipment and training. The work- shops had expanded from an initial visit with five colleagues, and eventually a two-roomed centre was built at a cost of £2000, where simple apparatus could be assembled. He believed that the projects had had a wider influence on teaching practical physics in Rwanda. Eileen Nugent, IOP international co-ordinator for Malawi, said training for teaching practical physics could help African countries to build a critical mass of people who had the scientific and technical skills needed to underpin other professions such as engineering and medicine. Appiah, Richardson and Nugent spoke during a lunchtime session to which donors to IOP for Africa were invited. The IOP’s director of commu- nications and external relations, Beth Taylor, said the aim was to thank them for their contributions, to explain how the IOP had used their money, and to elicit further sources of help. The IOP also ran workshops in developing countries on how to com- mercialise research, she said, and at one of these, Tilahun Tesfaye of Addis Ababa University and his colleagues had developed a business plan for producing a portable “science in a suit- case” kit for teaching practical physics. Addressing the session, Tesfaye, who trains teachers, said that some had been ignoring practical work in order to rush through the syllabus. “The schools are preaching science, not teaching science, so it’s very important to have a cheap, accessible science kit that addresses this,” he said. Also speaking were Roger Green (Ghana co-ordinator), Bill Poole (Ethiopia), Laurie Mansfield (The Gambia), Stephen Wright (Uganda) and Joe Brock (Tanzania), and Prof. Peter Vukusic, who has conducted out- reach in Malawi. A video of the meeting will be on the IOP’s YouTube channel. “The schools are preaching science, not teaching it.” The IOP’s global team met to discuss IOP for Africa. Heather Pinnell reports. Tilahun Tesfaye speaking at the international volunteers’ meeting in London in February. Inter actions March 2013

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Page 1: Physics in Africa put in spot light Physics in a flashmental or big questions in physics, and an ability in physics or maths. University open days had been the most influential factor

The newspaper of the physics community

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook:http://twitter.com/physicsnews

www.facebook.com/instituteofphysics

Diamond ring puts heart into quantum computing

A proof-of-concept device that could play a key role in an optical quantum network has been built and tested at cryogenic temperatures. A paper on the research is in IOP Publishing’s New Journal of Physics. The device, like the one pictured, consists of a single nitrogen-vacancy centre within a diamond micro-ring resonator 4.5 µm in diameter, coupled to a photonic waveguide. ioppublishing.org

IOP booklet is positive about antimatter

A new booklet about antimatter has been published by the

IOP. Antimatter – a review of its role in the universe and its applications outlines past and current research and its uses and potential in fields as diverse as medicine and particle physics. For a copy of the booklet, e-mail [email protected] or visit the IOP’s website.www.iop.org/publications

Physics in a flash

ANTIMATTER

A review of its role in the universe and its applications

Andr

ei F

arao

n/N

JP

March 2013

Physics in Africa put in spotlight

Physics teachers in Africa have a huge appetite for training in practical work and the equipment to support it, a group of IOP volunteers explained at a gathering in London to discuss the IOP’s Physics for Development programme. But while the programme has made substantial progress in the last eight years, much more could be done with increased resources, they said, and the IOP is appealing for more donations.

UK-based volunteers who act as IOP international co-ordinators in African countries were joined at the meeting on 22 February by Charles Appiah, IOP national co-ordinator in Ghana, and Richard de Grijs, national co-ordinator in China, while David Wolfe, interna-tional co-ordinator for South Africa, participated via Skype.

The IOP’s projects in Africa involve volunteers running workshops on teach-ing physics through practical work, using simple equipment transported from the UK or made locally through IOP resource centres. Volunteers provide training at the resource centres or elsewhere, often in partnership with other bodies or the local ministry of education.

Appiah said: “In Ghana and most African countries there is a serious shortage of physics teachers, par-ticularly in the rural areas.” The IOP’s involvement had come at the right time for Ghana just as its government was moving towards a greater emphasis on science education, and its efforts had been well received, he said. Workshops had so far been held in five of the coun-try’s 10 regions and there were con-stant requests to cover the rest.

Volunteers explained that most phys-ics teaching in African schools was highly theoretical, with some teachers never having been trained in practical work and many schools having little equipment or apparatus going unused because of lack of training. Providing

equipment and running training work-shops had to go hand in hand, they said.

Several spoke of the huge efforts that teachers made to attend training. In South Sudan, where girls have a higher chance of dying in childbirth than start-ing secondary school, one teacher had built a raft to cross a river and another had waded a river in flood to get to the course, the country’s IOP international co-ordinator, Gerry Blake, said.

The programme began after David Richardson, IOP international co-ordinator for Rwanda, visited the coun-try in 2004 and was shocked by the lack of equipment and training. The work-shops had expanded from an initial visit with five colleagues, and eventually a two-roomed centre was built at a cost of £2000, where simple apparatus could be assembled. He believed that the projects had had a wider influence on teaching practical physics in Rwanda.

Eileen Nugent, IOP international co-ordinator for Malawi, said training for teaching practical physics could help African countries to build a critical mass of people who had the scientific and technical skills needed to underpin

other professions such as engineering and medicine.

Appiah, Richardson and Nugent spoke during a lunchtime session to which donors to IOP for Africa were invited. The IOP’s director of commu-nications and external relations, Beth Taylor, said the aim was to thank them for their contributions, to explain how the IOP had used their money, and to elicit further sources of help.

The IOP also ran workshops in developing countries on how to com-mercialise research, she said, and at one of these, Tilahun Tesfaye of Addis Ababa University and his colleagues had developed a business plan for producing a portable “science in a suit-case” kit for teaching practical physics. Addressing the session, Tesfaye, who trains teachers, said that some had been ignoring practical work in order to rush through the syllabus. “The schools are preaching science, not teaching science, so it’s very important to have a cheap, accessible science kit that addresses this,” he said.

Also speaking were Roger Green (Ghana co-ordinator), Bill Poole (Ethiopia), Laurie Mansfield (The Gambia), Stephen Wright (Uganda) and Joe Brock (Tanzania), and Prof. Peter Vukusic, who has conducted out-reach in Malawi. A video of the meeting will be on the IOP’s YouTube channel.

“The schools are preaching science, not teaching it.”

The IOP’s global team met to discuss IOP for Africa.Heather Pinnell reports.

Tilahun Tesfaye speaking at the international volunteers’ meeting in London in February.

Interactions March 2013

Page 2: Physics in Africa put in spot light Physics in a flashmental or big questions in physics, and an ability in physics or maths. University open days had been the most influential factor

2 news

Excellent research programmes could be lost if the “flat cash” settlement for science continues into 2015/16 and beyond, the chief executive of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) told a meeting of physicists organised by the IOP in February. Urging physicists to contrib-ute to the coming discussions on sci-ence funding, Prof. John Womersley said continued flat cash was a real prospect, and even a reduced budget could not be ruled out.

His comments came ahead of chancellor George Osborne’s budget on 20 March, which will include a “mini spending review” to cover the financial year 2015/16, i.e. beyond the next general election and after the current Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) period ends in 2015. The overall budget for BIS is likely to be announced in March, but details of the allocation for science and

research within this will be under dis-cussion between April and summer.

Prof. Womersley said that the flat cash settlement in 2010 was seen as OK when other important budg-ets, such as the police and defence, were being cut. “We had all hoped that the four-year CSR would take us through the dip and that when it was

looked at again it would be in a more optimistic environment,” he said, but instead, the present economic con-text was unfavourable. At the same time, inflation had been much higher than was forecast in 2010 – energy costs alone were currently running at 5%. The STFC has already seen a 4.4% fall in purchasing power com-

pared to 2010/11 and inflationary pressures will result in a further 5% loss in purchasing power, or £50 m. “I hope that we can argue that contin-ued flat cash is not acceptable,” he said. “But reduced funding would be even worse, and that’s not an impos-sible outcome.”

Prof. Womersley said that though the arguments for the importance and excellence of UK science had been well made in 2010 and had been heeded, the physics commu-nity had to make them over again and not assume that they were universally understood within government.

The IOP’s director of education and science, Prof. Peter Main, urged physicists at the meeting and else-where to respond to the spending review, and to the Triennial Review of the Research Councils, for which consultation ended on 28 February and to which the IOP has responded.

Around 86% of first-year physics stu-dents surveyed in Scotland believe that having a physics degree will be an advantage in the job market. This was among the findings from this year’s annual survey of first-year undergraduates at Scottish universities conducted by the IOP in Scotland.

A total of 252 physics students were surveyed. About 48% of respondents thought that studying physics was likely to lead them into a career in research, with about 16% expecting to work in engineering or industry and about 7% expecting to become teachers. About 15% were unsure and 7% thought that their career would be unrelated to physics.

Asked if there was a physics topic studied in school that particularly sparked their interest in physics, 30% of respondents named particle

or quantum physics, which was the most popular answer. The next most popular was astronomy or space (15%), followed by mechanics (12%), relativity (10%) and electric-ity and magnetism (8%).

A desire to understand how the world works was named as an “extremely” or “very” influential fac-tor in deciding to study physics by the highest proportion of students, followed by an interest in funda-mental or big questions in physics, and an ability in physics or maths.

University open days had been the most influential factor in choosing their present course, followed by involvement in experiments, lectures or workshops outside school.

The IOP’s national officer in Scotland, Alison McLure, said: “We hope that our findings will help schools and universities to tailor their approach to ensure that stu-dents are getting the best possible taste of physics during their school years so that they can make the best choices for the future.”

Scottish freshers respond to survey

George Osborne views the electron beam test facility at STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory.

Physicists alerted to funding-gap risk

Interactions March 2013

Higgs Prize for school students is launched in EdinburghA prize for Scottish school students, named after Prof. Peter Higgs, was launched in Edinburgh on 5 February by Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and Prof. Higgs.

The Higgs Prize will be open to Scottish school students who excel in physics, and the winners will receive a trip to CERN. The Scottish government has asked the IOP in Scotland to help to find the best way to identify the country’s most promis-ing young physicists.

Salmond said Prof. Higgs’ work was celebrated internationally and Scotland was very proud of him. He said: “I’m delighted that Prof. Higgs’ achievements will inspire future gen-

erations of Scots.”The IOP’s president, Prof. Sir Peter

Knight, said: “We’re delighted that the government intends to intro-duce this prize. With £8.5 bn of the Scottish economy created by physics-based businesses, the prize is recognition of the vital importance of the subject.”

The launch came at the start of a week to showcase science in Scotland that included an exhibi-tion at the Scottish parliament to celebrate Scottish physicists’ contri-bution to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Visitors could walk through a life-size replica of the LHC tunnel and meet Scottish physicists who have

been involved in the experiments to find the Higgs boson.l Prof. Higgs and CERN have been jointly awarded the Edinburgh

Medal, which is normally given to individuals in science. It will be pre-sented on 24 March at the Edinburgh International Science Festival.

Alex Salmond (left) and Prof. Peter Higgs at the launch of the Higgs Prize in Scotland.

STFC

Scot

tish

Gov

ernm

ent

Page 3: Physics in Africa put in spot light Physics in a flashmental or big questions in physics, and an ability in physics or maths. University open days had been the most influential factor

3news

A talk on five things that you should never do with a particle accelerator was one of six lectures in a physics enrichment course run by the IOP in London on 17–19 February. The Physics in Perspective course, aimed at 16–19 year-old students, attracted around 500 sixth-form and college students, parents and teachers.

Suzie Sheehy, a research fellow at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, explained how particle accelerators work while posing questions such as “if you put your head in a pari-cle accelerator, what would kill you first?”. Interactions heard her talk, which also encompassed proton therapy, irradiated food, using neu-trons to transmute nuclear waste and scares about creating mini black holes. In the same session, Andreas Freise, of the University of Birmingham, described experiments

to detect gravitational waves using laser interferometry, playing audio to imitate what a gravitational wave would be like if translated into sound.

The lectures, given at the Royal Institution and University College London, included a “safari” of the solar system by Sheila Kanani of the University of Central Lancashire, and

talks on the future of nuclear power by Prof. Jim Smith of the University of Portsmouth, the engineering behind the bouncing bomb by Hugh Hunt and Hilary Costello of the University of Cambridge, and bubbles in the ocean and the atmosphere by Helen Czerski of the University of Southampton.

The IOP’s past president Prof. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell has been named as one of the 100 most power-ful women in the UK by Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour programme. She was included in the Woman’s Hour Power List, whose members were chosen for their impact on the economy, society, politics and culture.

In a process taking several months, Radio 4 invited the public to suggest names for the list, took evidence from expert witnesses,

and asked a judging panel to select and rank the final 100. Of Prof. Bell Burnell, the panel said: “She is cred-ited with one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the 20th century whilst completing her post-graduate studies: that of the first radio pulsars.”

The IOP’s president, Prof. Sir Peter Knight, said: “We’re delighted to see Jocelyn, joined by a range of extraordinary female scientists and engineers, in this inaugural power list. Her contribution to research and as an inspiring figurehead and role model in the fight to overcome gen-der disparities in science make her a very deserving choice.”

Public engagement attracted thousands

Physics talks enrich students

Interactions March 2013

The Royal Astronomical Society’s (RAS’s) Eddington Medal, which is given for investigations of outstanding merit

in astrophysics, has been awarded to IOP fellow Prof. James Binney of the University of Oxford. The award is in recognition of his “fundamental and enduring contributions to galactic astrophysics”.

The RAS’s Jackson-Gwilt Medal has been awarded to IOP fellow Prof. Vikram Dhillon of the University of Sheffield for his “many contributions to the development of novel astronomical instrumentation and his pioneering work on high-speed photometry”.

The Fowler Prize (A) of the RAS, which is an award given to early career researchers, has been awarded

to IOP member Iain Hannah, of the University of Glasgow, who has “already made an international impact on our understanding of solar hard X-ray emission on a variety of scales”.

Among 25 new Wolfson Research Merit Award holders announced by the Royal Society in February are IOP fellow Prof. Stefan Soldner-Rembold of the University of Manchester (above), who is studying the origins of mass, and IOP member Prof. Yang Hao

(left) of Queen Mary, University of London, whose research involves tailoring antennae and microwave

metamaterials using graphene. The scheme is jointly funded by the Wolfson Foundation and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

News in Brief

Suzie Sheehy talks to physics students at the Royal Institution for the IOP’s course.

Bell Burnell rated as one of top 100

Reid

ar H

ahn/

Ferm

ilab

Almost 40,000 people were reached by the IOP’s Physics in the Field pro-gramme at 28 public events such as festivals and fairs in 2012. The pro-gramme engages the public through demonstrating simple physics tricks, encouraging people to try them out and explaining the physics involved.

The IOP is hoping to return to all the events that it visited last year and to add four new ones to the pro-gramme, which involves staff and volunteers working together. IOP staff ensure that they are present at events where Physics in the Field has

never been before, but then volun-teers usually take the lead when it returns to repeat events.

The IOP’s outreach officer, Rik Sargent, said: “Some members who were experienced volunteers from 2011 ran their own events in 2012 without IOP staff or branch commit-tee members, with great success, particularly at the Towersey Festival, the Just So Festival and the Hay Festival. They did a fantastic job.”

The outreach team is looking for volunteers for this year’s programme throughout the UK and Ireland.

Sargent said: “The tricks are simple hand-held demonstrations, such as balloon kebabs, that highlight an area of physics and can be repeated at home. It’s a really good opportu-nity to gain experience of talking to the general public about physics and hopefully a really nice day out, often with free entrance to a festival.”

Volunteers, who should be aged 18 or over, will be reimbursed for travel and subsistence costs. People interested in volunteering should e-mail [email protected] stat-ing their location.

Prof. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Page 4: Physics in Africa put in spot light Physics in a flashmental or big questions in physics, and an ability in physics or maths. University open days had been the most influential factor

New MeMbersMiryam Arredondo Arechavala, Kim Bertelsen, Miraculous Bhaseen, Adrian Birkby, Catherine Bumpus, Raymond Davis, Stephen Gruppetta, Wenlong He, John Hudson, Nicola Kay, Andrew Kirk, Colin Mercer, Adam Micolich, Kevin Mutch, William Neal, Thanh Thi Kim Nguyen, Katharine Pryse-Lloyd, Fraser Scott, Christopher Smith, Ian Thomson, Andrew Thornton, Gerard Tobin, Geoffrey Vincent, David Weir.

IN MeMorIaMLewis Chadderton, Edmund Cooke-Yarborough, Colin John Evans (Swansea), Cyril John Digby Fowle, Malcolm G Haines, Charles Geoffrey James (Norfolk), Griff John (Hertford Heath), Leopoldo Micco, Norman Muir (Stevenage), Banshidhar Pant, Gerald William Teague, Robert John Thomas (Guildford), Felix J Weinberg.

aNNouNceMeNtsl The IOP’s Neutron Scattering Group and the Faraday Division of the Royal Society of Chemistry are inviting nominations for the BTM Willis Prize, which is given to recognise outstanding work in the application of neutron scattering to a signficant problem in physics, chemistry, materials science, earth science, life sciences or engineering, or a major development in neutron scattering instrumentation or techniques. The prize will normally go to a scientist in the first 12 years of a research career (allowing for career breaks). For details, or to make a nomination, e-mail [email protected]. The closing date is 8 March.l The IOP Innovation Awards 2013 are now open for entries. The Innovation Awards celebrate companies operating in the UK and Ireland that have achieved significant commercial success built on physics-based innovations. To enter, or for further information about the awards, visit www.iop.org/innovation. The closing date is 31 May.l The IOP and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) are inviting postgraduate physics students to apply for a

three-month work placement with POST, as an Institute of Physics/POST Fellow. POST is an office of the two Houses of Parliament that provides analyses of science and technology-based issues for MPs and peers. The IOP/POST fellow will work on a policy topic and will be expected to produce a short briefing paper (a POSTnote), contribute to a longer report, or assist a select committee of either of the Houses of Parliament in an inquiry. Applicants must be based in the UK or Ireland. For an application form and further details, visit www.iop.org/postfellowship. The closing date is 4 March.l The Institute is once again offering bursaries of £2000 (or the equivalent in euros in the Republic of Ireland) for up to 40 physics students to undertake eight-week work experience placements in business or industry before their final year. Those applying must be undergraduates at a higher education institution in the UK or Ireland and must find their own placement. For details, visit www.iop.org/careers/top40placements/index.html. The closing date is 26 April.l Round 2 of the IOP’s 2013 Public Engagement Grant Scheme is now open for applications. The grants, worth up to £1500, are intended to support physics-based

outreach activities in the UK and Ireland throughout 2013. Activities supported by the scheme should provide engaging experiences of physics for public audiences. For more information, application forms, guidelines and summaries of past projects, click on About Us, then Support and Grants, at www.iop.org. Applicants are strongly encouraged to talk to a member of the IOP’s Physics in Society team, either by e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone on 020 7470 4845, before submitting an application. Applications must be received by 12 noon on 22 April.l Four fellowships worth £15,000 each (or the equivalent in euros for candidates in the Republic of Ireland) are being offered to women in the early stages of their career, to enable or facilitate promising scientific research. The L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science UK and Ireland National Fellowships 2013 are tenable at any UK or Ireland university or research institute to support a 12-month period of postdoctoral research in the physical or life sciences. Applicants must be UK or Ireland residents who are citizens of the European Economic Area or Switzerland or who have permanent residence status in the UK or Ireland. They must have no more than

10 years’ postdoctoral experience (excluding career breaks) and must not have held, be in, or be promised, a permanent academic post at the time of applying. The prize money can be used in ways that enable women to pursue their careers, such as buying equipment, paying for childcare or travel to a conference. The fellowships are offered by a partnership of L’Oréal UK and Ireland, the UK National Commission for UNESCO and the Irish National Commission for UNESCO, with the support of the Royal Society. Applications must be made online. For further details, visit www.womeninscience.co.uk. The closing date has been extended to noon on 15 March.l Six positions on the Institute’s Council will become vacant from October 2013: for president-elect, honorary secretary, vice-president membership, and three ordinary members. Members and fellows of the IOP are invited to nominate themselves, to stand for these positions. Where there are more nominations than vacancies for any position, an election of all IOP members and fellows will be held to fill the vacancy. Nominations open on 1 March and close on 1 April. Further details about the nomination process are available on the IOP’s website at www.iop.org/election2013.

4 noticesEditor Heather Pinnell, Production Editor Alison Gardiner, Art Director Andrew Giaquinto. Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT, UK. Tel +44 (0)20 7470 4800; fax +44 (0)20 7470 4991; e-mail [email protected]; web www.iop.org/interactions

Interactions March 2013

notices

Honorary FellowsHip Call for nominations

The Institute of Physics is seeking help in identifying exceptional individuals to whom it might award its highest honour of Honorary Fellow.

Honorary fellowship is conferred by the Institute on distinguished individuals for exceptional service to physics. It also recognises important service to the Institute or someone whose relationship with the Institute has been of tremendous benefit.

nominations can be submitted at any time throughout the year. For consideration in 2013, nominations must be received by 15 March 2013.

The Institute would particularly welcome nominations for women physicists and physicists from the ethnic minorities.

Further information about honorary fellowship, including a nomination form, can be found on our website. Go to www.iop.org/about and select “Awards”.

Alternatively, contact Claire Copeland (tel +44 (0)20 7470 4800; e-mail [email protected]).

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5letters

Interactions March 2013

A comfortable read I have found the PDF format of Interactions much easier to use than the previous platform.

On the previous platform I had a constant battle to get the document to a legible font size and keep it like that, and there was far too much scrolling about in order to read articles. This carried the constant risk that the document would revert to whole-page view, with inherent microfont, and resizing would often lead to such a large zoom that there would be only a few lines on the screen.

It is possible that this battle was due to features on that platform that I cannot use in the expected manner because of the disability in my hands. By contrast, the PDF defaults to a legible font size and there is comparatively little scrolling. I can focus on reading the articles instead of fighting the user interface, and feel contented instead of frustrated and angry.

My only disappointment is that you are using the PDF as an interim measure. If Interactions acquires anything like the horrible user

interface that it had on the previous platform then I will probably stop reading it.Elaine PierpontVia e-mail

This is a million times easier to read than the digital version, partly because I don’t need a PhD in physics to work out how to print it, so I can take it home, and read it at leisure.Rachael Padman Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge

The Institute’s director of communications and international relations, Beth Taylor, writes: Thank you, Elaine and Rachael, for your positive comments about the PDF format that we are using for the next few issues of Interactions. I’m sorry that the previous format caused problems for you.

Our longer-term aim is to start posting news stories on the IOP website as they occur, which means that we should be able to record them in a much more timely way. We’ll then issue an e-bulletin to all members at the start of each month, highlighting all the last

month’s news and allowing you to click through to read more on the website about all the stories that catch your eye.

We will also aim to provide a PDF format for those who prefer to read the news in this way or to print it to read at their leisure.

Moving together?I noticed in the last issue of Interactions that the IOP is considering relocating its headquarters to a new site. Why not put a bid in for the Royal Institution’s (RI’s) building?

If you let the RI stay in the building and pay, say, £20 m for a 50% stake, then you have a new London headquarters with a more permanent lease. Of course, that assumes that the existing RI structure has enough room for all your staff and that the annual maintenance is reasonable.

I remember how overcrowded the previous building was in the 1990s, and I’m sure you won’t want to go back to that.Paul Guinnessy Maryland, USA

The Institute’s chief executive, Prof. Paul Hardaker, replies:It’s certainly tempting to think of a move to the Royal Institution. We would be relocating to a building that is steeped in the history of British science, and at the same time might help to save a venerable institution.

But like most things in life, I’m afraid, it’s not that simple. As things currently stand, it seems that the costs are likely to be more than we would be able to afford, and in any case the RI’s own plans are not yet clear.

I can assure you, though, that whatever we decide to do, our aim would be to find a building that is comfortable and convenient for members to use.

Write to [email protected] or the address on p4. Letters may be edited.

Research Student Conference FundThe fund provides financial support to

research-student members to attend international conferences and major national meetings.

Apply for up to £250 during the course of your PhD.

Applications are considered on a quarterly basis and should reach the Institute by 1 March, 1 June, 1 September or 1 December.

For further information, visit www.iop.org or e-mail [email protected].

We welcome your feedback on Interactions as well as other letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please let us know if your letter is intended for publication.

Do you have a fantastic idea for making physics accessible? Do you want to reach a wider audience? Do you need some support to make your outreach activity happen?

Then why not apply for a Public Engagement Grant from the Institute of Physics? They are worth up to £1500 and aim to support physics-based public outreach activities throughout 2013.

Application forms and guidelines for the grant scheme are available online at www.iop.org/activity/outreach/page_38843.html, or by e-mailing [email protected].

Closing date: 22 April 2013

Public EngagEmEnt grant SchEmE 2013 round 2

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6 profile

Art works with science to make a show

A galloping horse made of light, a table lamp shaped as a heart that pulsates at the user’s heart rate, and an exoskeleton hybrid of man, animal and machine, are some of the high-lights of the Kinetica Art Fair 2013 running from 28 February to 3 March in London. Combining artistic endeav-our with scientific and technological insights or techniques, the exhibitors have used their own scientific knowl-edge or collaborated with academic researchers to create the works.

Where once such collaborations may have been seen as unusual, the Kinetica Art Fair can today justifiably describe itself as “one of London’s annual landmark art exhibitions and a permanent fixture in the art fair cal-endar”. Now in its fifth year, the fair includes more than 400 works of art from several countries as well as the UK. As in previous years, it is expected

to attract an audience that ranges from art buyers to families, and peo-ple in the creative industries to stu-dents and researchers in science.

The event is put on by Kinetica Museum, a company co-founded by Tony Langford and Dianne Harris to provide a platform for contemporary artists working in interdisciplinary new media art. In 2006 its original gallery space was in London’s Spitalfields, where over the course of a year around 100,000 people came to exhi-bitions of kinetic art. This year’s fair will be at Ambika P3, a large space in Marylebone Road, NW1.

At a preview, Langford told Interactions: “The innovation and craft behind the work is slowly becom-ing appreciated. Ultimately, art and science are getting closer and closer together – both are a way of trying to explain the world and our connection to the world. The nature of the work is engaging and participatory so people love it.”

Among the works on show is Rejuvenation (pictured), part of a

series called Generation Pi by artist Jonty Hurwitz, who has a background in science. The work depends on using computational software to cre-ate an image of an abstract-seeming object, which when viewed as a reflec-tion has a life-like quality, such as a representation of a human hand.

Hurwitz will be speaking at the fair on 2 March, in a talk entitled “How X plus Y became Pi: the spread of algorithms creating reality from abstract data”. It is part of a daily programme of talks, presentations and performances at the fair on the theme of illusion and reality, including a fusion of 3D imaging and quantum mechanics by the group danceroom Spectroscopy.

Art at the fair will be available to buy at prices ranging from £200 to £50,000 and the event will also include a live and online auction led by an auctioneer from Sotheby’s, on the evening of 2 March.

There are a range of ticket prices to visit the fair, with details available at www.kinetica-artfair.com.

Heather Pinnell saw a preview of a fair whereart and technology fuse.

“Ultimately, art and science are getting closer and closer together.”

Interactions March 2013

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