Last week, after work, I found myself wandering down to the English Speaking Union, of all places. A strange enough venue (and Google Maps told me that the Edinburgh Toastmasters meet there, though how it knows that I can’t guess). I was there to see a lecture by Dame Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell. I am… Continue reading Jocelyn Bell Burnell: Careering Through Astronomy
I don’t know if you know, but it’s British Science Week right now. My science communication efforts have plummeted to almost nothing since I wrapped up basically everything to write my thesis. I just haven’t quite got back involved with things yet (and it’s probably best I don’t give up quite as much of my… Continue reading Think and Drink Science Pub Quiz
Way back in August I got an email from Dr Lily Asquith of the University of Sussex, asking if I could be available in February to give a seminar about LIGO and gravitational waves to the experimental particle physics group there. I was flattered, but a little confused. I emailed back saying I’d be happy… Continue reading Gravitational Waves seminar at the University of Sussex
It’s one year since the LIGO collaboration (LSC) announced the first direct detection of gravitational waves. On that day last February, I remembered being very excited. We’d been sworn to secrecy for months, coached on where to send questions from journalists and what not to put on social media. While we knew there was still a… Continue reading The Detection of Gravitational Waves, a year on
This week was a busy week and was filled with talks. I’m not sure why but these things do seem to come in clusters. I started on Monday evening by attending the Engineering Society’s Autumn Lecture by Prof Jim Hough, who spoke about detecting gravitational waves. Jim ran the Institute for Gravitational Research when I… Continue reading A week of talks
The previous four Saturday mornings I got up early and headed for the Kelvin Building, which is where physics is done at the University of Glasgow. It was Science Master Class Season. Twice a year the University of Glasgow, alongside a few other Scottish Universities, holds science master classes for high school students. These are… Continue reading Science Master Classes
Today a major press conference was held about the initial results from LISA Pathfinder. LISA Pathfinder is a spacecraft that was launched back in December in order to test key technologies for the LISA mission, a space-based gravitational wave detector. After launch, LISA Pathfinder travelled 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, heading towards the Sun. When it… Continue reading LISA Pathfinder
I ran into our Head of School, Professor Martin Hendry, as I was leaving work on Friday (Actually I was going back into work, having forgotten my hat, but I want Prof Hendry to think I’m smart so I didn’t mention that). He said that he’d been chatting to people from STV and that they’d… Continue reading STV Interview about Gravitational Waves
Edit 12/03/16: I just wanted to say hello to anyone who was Googling stuff about gravitational waves and found themselves here. People use some really interesting search terms to get here and I want you to know that if you have any questions I will absolutely do my best to answer them. Ok, now you… Continue reading Gravitational Waves: The Big Discovery
Waaaay back in May I gave a talk about Extra Solar Planets at Waxy O’Connor’s in Glasgow for the Pint of Science Festival. Pint of Science is all about sharing cool science in the comfy, relaxed environment of the local pub. It’s a really great way of getting discussions going and encouraging to participate. I… Continue reading A movie from last year’s Pint of Science Festival
In Becky's Head 