IOP website for teachers launched
The Institute of Physics has launched a new education website for teachers – IOPSpark.
Photon16
The Photon16 conference, organised by the Institute of Physics, will be held at the University of Leeds, 5 – 8 September 2016.
Over four days, Photon16 participants will have the opportunity to visit exhibitions on the latest in optics and photonics technology, attend lectures from experts in the field, and get up to date with cutting-edge research.
Editorial — The Complexities of Inter-societal Cooperation
The planning for the International Year of Light 2015 has brought to the fore the complexities of inter-societal cooperation. Each learned society has a geographically defined membership base. For example, the European Physical Society attracts mainly physicists from Europe. And while the American Physical Society has many international members, the majority of members are based in the USA. Moreover, each learned society defines its membership by scientific discipline, which can be more or less broad. The Optical Society of America…
Research performance in the United Kingdom
Physics may be not the most important field of research in the United Kingdom [UK] but its impact is significant. This is the conclusion of a report entitled “The UK’s performance in physics research”.
In April 2014, the UK Institute of Physics [IOP] together with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EPSRC], and the Science and Technology Facilities Council [STFC] published a report on performance in physics research in the United-Kingdom based on bibliometrics and case studies. Science Metrix, an independent research…
Frances Saunders is the new IOP president
Dr. Frances Saunders took up her position as president of the Institute of Physics [IOP] on 1 October 2013, succeeding Sir Peter Knight. Dr Frances Saunders is the second female president of the IOP, after Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell (2008-2010, and 2011 ad interim). She will serve as IOP president until 30 September 2015.
F. Saunders is a research scientist in liquid crystal devices at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. She was Policy officer at the former Office of Science and Technology. From 2007 to 2012, she was the first female chief executive…
Physics: transforming lives
The Institute of Physics [IoP], in partnership with the UK Engineering and Physical Research Council and the Science and Technology Facilities Council, have published a booklet containing a selection of case studies demonstrating the economic value of research in physics and how it leads to a beneficial impact on our daily lives. It is available on the IoP website.
Although the majority of the topics, facts and figures are understandably biased towards the UK, this collection…
The American Physical Society comes to Europe
The American Physical Society [APS] held its Executive Board Retreat at Chicheley Hall (Buckinghamshire, UK), home of the Kavli Royal Society International Centre. This is the first time in history that APS has held its Executive Board Retreat in Europe. On Monday 17 June, a special international session was organized with representatives of European Societies, namely from the Institute of Physics [IoP], the German Physical Society [DPG] and the European Physical Society [EPS], with the goal to “better understand each others’ interests and discuss new…
Stimulating Physics Network
The drastic shortage of specialist physics teachers in England ( ~ 40%) has been getting worse for most of the last 20 years, largely due to low levels of recruitment.
Happily, as a result of recent changes in policy following years of lobbying by the Institute of Physics, recruitment is now healthy. However, it is still the case that many children up to age 16 are taught physics by non-specialists, usually biologists, and will be for at least the next decade…
Institute of Physics Awards Dinner
The Institute of Physics [IoP] Awards Dinner 2012, held in London on 3 October, attracted a record attendance of over 600 physicists.
The IoP President, Sir Peter Knight, a Fellow of the European Physical Society [EPS], highlighted in his address a new IoP report, which showed, yet again, the lamentable number of girls studying physics in the UK despite years of effort to improve matters…
Institute of Physics announces award winners
The winners of this year’s Institute of Physics [IoP] awards have been announced. Among the recipients were Martin Rees, who receives the IoP’s flagship international prize – the Isaac Newton Medal – for his outstanding contributions to relativistic astrophysics and cosmology.
“Lord Rees is a hugely important figure in astrophysics and cosmology. While our capability to observe the peculiarities of our Universe has grown at an unprecedented rate, his insights have provided us…
Hardaker appointed new Institute of Physics CEO
Paul Hardaker has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer [CEO] of the Institute of Physics, it was announced at the end of May. Hardaker will take up the post on 3 September this year.
Hardaker, a visiting professor at the University of Reading’s School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, is the also the CEO of the Royal Meteorological Society. A Met Office employee for 14 years, he served as both Development Programme director and Chief Advisor to Government for the British national weather service…
