Colloquia & Seminars
General information
Colloquia and seminars will usually be held in Kelvin Building, Room 312 on Wednesdays at 2.00pm (unless otherwise stated). Come One, Come All!
You can view the upcoming (and past) colloquia talks on the Events Management System, and you can also subscribe to calendar updates via RSS or iCal. Coordinated with the colloquia at the Department of Physics of the University of Strathclyde.
Questions? Comments? Speaker suggestions?
Please use the dedicated contact below:
Colloquia & Seminars:
Dr Adetunmise Dada (Adetunmise.Dada@glasgow.ac.uk)
Kelvin Building, Room 157C, Ext 6429
Schedule of upcoming talks
§ Internal seminar ‡ Outside of regular schedule.
14/10/26 • John Baez (California/Edinburgh) • The Solar System, the Atom and the Universe
Prof. John Baez (University of California, Riverside / University of Edinburgh) • Wednesday, October 14, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 312
The Solar System, the Atom and the Universe
The classical version of the inverse square force law was introduced to explain the elliptical orbits of planets. Later the quantum version was was used to explain the hydrogen atom. In both cases, the inverse square force law has a surprising extra conserved quantity that plays a crucial role: the Runge-Lenz vector. Noether showed that conserved quantities correspond to symmetries. What symmetries explain the Runge-Lenz vector? If we understand this, we can see that the hydrogen atom is mathematically almost the same as a massless particle moving at the speed of light in the "Einstein universe": an early model of the universe where space is a sphere in 4 dimensions. And this is just the beginning: the story of the inverse square force law keeps taking surprising new turns.
28/10/26 • Andrea Jimenez Dalmaroni (Cardiff) • Towards a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive physics education
Dr Andrea Jimenez Dalmaroni (University of Cardiff) • Wednesday, October 28, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 312
Towards a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive physics education: from collaborative exams to interactive lectures
Andrea obtained her DPhil in Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford. After an extensive career in biophysics, her main interests are on the field of science education, focusing on innovation and research in alternative forms of assessments, employability and the use of technologies in physics education. She is a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and has been a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University (2016), Stanford University (2017), and a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2018 and 2019).
Andrea has been leading STEM education initiatives at UK-scale since 2017, such as the IOP/Royal Society Physics Education for the 21st Century Conference series and the Active Futures in STEM Education workshop, supporting cohorts of staff in applying evidence-based education innovation with confidence. Her work earned her a 2021 UCL Provost Education Award in the category Education Success for All and the Cardiff University Excellence Award in Teaching and Scholarship 2021.
11/11/26 • David Fairhurst (Edinburgh) • Alcoholic drinks: The Physics of Fizz
Dr David Fairhurst (University of Edinburgh) • Wednesday, November 11, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 312
25/11/26 • Laurence Wilson (York) • Capturing fast, 3D motion in a microscope: optical holography and swimming microorganisms
Dr Laurence Wilson (University of York) • Wednesday, November 25, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 312
Capturing fast, 3D motion in a microscope: optical holography and swimming microorganisms
To survive in a world dominated by the randomizing effects of Brownian motion, microorganisms have evolved unique swimming and navigation mechanisms suited to micro-scale physics. Our laboratory develops bespoke tools to interrogate this motion, centred around digital holographic microscopy (DHM)—a label-free technique capable of high-speed, three-dimensional imaging. We focus on simplified, portable hardware implementations that can be deployed directly into specialised settings (e.g., to study pathogens like Leishmania) or extreme environments (e.g., Great Salt Lake and Boulby Mine). In this talk, I will outline our hardware implementation and present recent findings across bacterial, archaeal, and eukaryotic domains. Finally, I will address the growing challenge of "data glut" in DHM, demonstrating how machine learning and artificial intelligence can streamline data processing to solve emerging biomedical problems.
20/01/27 • Jan-Michael Rost (MPI PKS) • Title TBC
20/01/27 • Jan-Michael Rost (MPI PKS) • Title TBC
Prof Jan-Michael Rost (Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems) • Wednesday, January 20, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 222
Title TBC
Abstract TBC
03/02/27 • Amanda Foust (Imperial) • Title TBC
Dr Amanda Foust (Imperial College London) • Wednesday, February 3, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 222
Title TBC
Abstract TBC
17/02/27 • Dan Watts (York) • Title TBC
17/02/27 • Dan Watts (York) • Title TBC
Prof Dan Watts (University of York) • Wednesday, February 17, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 222
Title TBC
Abstract TBC
03/03/27 • Claire Donnelly (ETH Zurich / PSI) • Title TBC
Prof. Claire Donnelly (ETH Zurich / Paul Scherrer Institute) • Wednesday, March 3, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 222
Title TBC
Abstract TBC
Past talks
§ Internal seminar ‡ Outside of regular schedule.
27/05/26 • Eugene Polzik (Copenhagen) • Quantum Sensing of Fields and Forces
Prof. Eugene Polzik (Niels Bohr institute Copenhagen) • Wednesday, May 27, 2:00 PM • Kelvin Building, Room 312
Quantum Sensing of Fields and Forces
Studies of extreme cases within quantum mechanics have always been particularly attractive. How macroscopic can objects be and still demonstrate unique quantum features, such as entanglement? What are the real limits of measurement precision in quantum mechanics? I will review our experiments where macroscopic objects are driven deep into the quantum regime. Observation of a quantum trajectory in a quantum reference frame with, in principle, unlimited accuracy will be presented. A concept of a reference frame with an effective negative mass required for such observation will be introduced. Sensing of magnetic fields and of mechanical motion beyond standard quantum limits of sensitivity using this concept will be presented. Application of those ideas to gravitational wave detection and magnetic field sensing will be reported.
References
- Hybrid quantum network for sensing in the acoustic frequency range. Novikov et al. Nature 643, 955 (2025).
- Entanglement-enhanced magnetic induction tomography. W. Zheng, H. Wang, R. Schmieg, A. Oesterle and E. S. Polzik. Phys. Rev. Lett. (2023) 130, 203602.
- Entanglement between Distant Macroscopic Mechanical and Spin Systems. Thomas et al. Nature Physics 17, 228–233(2021).