By Catriona Roy
Happy New Year from the School of Physics and Astronomy! It was great to welcome back the buzz of activity on campus as we returned to in-person learning last semester. As 2023 begins, let’s remember some of the highlights from 2022.
What have we been up to?
Professor Andy Lawrence was lead author of a paper which made the news in April calling for environmental protection of orbital space from debris and satellite mega-constellations.
Dr Colin Snodgrass and Dr Cyrielle Opitom contributed to NASA’s DART mission, which deflected an asteroid in September, as part of the DART – OPTiK team, observing the effects of the collision from a telescope in Ileret, Kenya.
A team of biologists and physicists, including Dr Chris Brackley worked on simulations of polymer physics to predict gene interactions in cancer cells.
The Higgs Centre for Theoretical Physics hosted celebrations to mark ten years since its founding, with further activities being scheduled for 2023. The decennial alumni career speakers included Edinburgh physics graduates who are now software architects, patent attorneys and lecturers at the University.
Students in the School have been busy too. Those involved with HYPED, the University’s hyperloop team, have seen the construction of the first hyperloop test track in the UK, built at King’s Buildings in September.
In their summer projects, undergraduates Sophie Jewell and Clara Pollock created a colour image of the furthest galaxy discovered yet, CEERS-93316. A team led by the University of Edinburgh made the discovery using data from the James Webb Space Telescope.
Achievement and awards
2022 was a year of success for many in the School. Among students, 144 pre-honours students received Certificates of Merit, 36 undergraduate and MSc students were awarded Class Medals and 45 undergraduate students received Prizes and Scholarships.
For their outstanding research, Professor Catherine Heymans was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s Herschel medal; Professor Wilson Poon received the highest award of the Society of Rheology, the Eugene C. Bingham Medal; and Dr Carlo Bruno was awarded the Young Investigator prize in Nuclear Physics.
Professors Marialuisa Aliotta and Sinead Farrington were elected as Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Dr Ross Galloway’s contributions to physics education were recognised as he was awarded the Institute of Physics Marie Curie-Sklodowska Medal and Prize.
And the School of Physics and Astronomy as a whole had its accomplishments recognised, as it ranked 4th in the UK and 1st in Scotland for research power (by Times Higher Education) in the Research Excellence Framework listing of 2021.
New this year
This semester, teaching will begin in the Nucleus building at King’s Buildings. The Nucleus opened in October as a central hub for the campus with a wide variety of new study spaces, a careers hub, café and shop.
The UK Centre for Astrobiology announced the launch of a Masters programme: Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences. Beginning in September this year, it will be the UK’s first Masters in astrobiology.
With further plans and developments in the pipeline for 2023, check our website for updates: www.ph.ed.ac.uk/news
Thank you for being part of our 2022 journey!
Useful links
School of Physics and Astronomy news:
https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/news
MSc in Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences:
https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/msc-astrobiology-planetary-sciences
Nucleus building at KB:
https://www.ed.ac.uk/science-engineering/about/nucleus
2022 news in full:
https://www.ph.ed.ac.uk/news/archive/2022
(Photo by Chris Close)
