Latest News & Events
Future events to look out for:
The International Year of Astronomy - IYA2009
In 2009 it is 400 years since Galileo turned a telescope to the heavens. The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009), a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, marks this event. The School of Physics and the University of Sydney have plans for IYA, so look at our IYA Events page and the University's IYA page over coming months. Also see the Australian IYA web site for national IYA information.
See the IYA Advertising Trailer on YouTube or download higher resolution versions from the IYA Trailer page.
- 20 August 2009
Public talk - Hunting for Antimatter: Nobel Prize for Physics 2008
Why is there something instead of nothing? Why are there so many different elementary particles?
COST: Free
RSVP: Ring 9351 3472 with your name and number of seats required. - 13 May 2009
Federal budget winners include space science and astronomy...more - 6 May 2009
It was a magic night when science and music met at Music and the Cosmos - a Sydney Science Forum event, featuring leading astronomers from the University of Sydney's School of Physics and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Brass Ensemble ... more - 30 April 2009
Professor Brian Schmidt, from the ANU's Mount Stromlo Observatory, described the life of the Universe and how astronomers have used observations to trace our Universe's history back more than 13 billion years in the Pollock Memorial Lecture
... more - 23 April 2009
On 23rd April the Institute for Photonics and Optical Science (IPOS) was formally opened by Senator Senator Anne McEwen, Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Environment, Communications and the Arts, and the Vice-Chancellor ... more
See the IPOS video The Photonic Universe - faster, further, smarter
- 4 April 2009
MOST live on the web
- The University of Sydney's MOST featured in Around the World in 80 Telescopes, a live video webcast as part of the 100 hours of astronomy IYA event. See the MOST video (above), along with other Australian and international observatories, at the Around the World in 80 Telescopes web site.
- 1 April 2009
Ten Japanese students from Tohoku University have taken part in an innovative new program to learn English through Physics and Mathematics lectures ...more - 30 March 2009
Greg Madsen helped move the WHAM telescope to Chile to map interstellar gas in the southern sky ...more - 22 March 2009
A seemingly impossible sparkle of green light from a silicon chip has opened up a whole new field of possibilities for communications devices...more - 12 March 2009
On 7 March 2009 NASA launched the Kepler Spacecraft into orbit around the Sun. Kepler will help scientists answer a very fundamental question: do planets the size of Earth exist in orbit around other stars? Read the Press Release.
Using Kepler, a team of scientists from the School of Physics are leading research to measure the ages of stars that are much older than our sun ... more - 15 February 2009
Ben Eggleton and his CUDOS team have developed a photonic integrated circuit that can not only increase internet networks speeds making them 60 times faster, but can act as traffic monitors to keep the speed high and error-free. ... more - 16 January 2009
Joss Bland-Hawthorn, with colleagues at the Anglo-Australian Observatory and Redfern Optical Components, are transforming astronomy with their innovative new light filter system for telescopes.... more - 15 January 2009
Shintaro Tsuruta, a current Bachelor of Science student, has received a Commendable Effort certificate in the Space Generation Advisory Council's International Year of Astronomy Essay Competition. ... more - 25 November 2008
Congratulations to MyScience, an innovative and exciting primary school science and technology program ... more - 25 November 2008
Associate Professor Rodney Cross, an expert from the School of Physics on the physics of sport and forensic physics, provided key evidence for the murder trial of Gordon Wood... more - 26 November 2008
ESO: Present and Future
The European Southern Observatory's Director General, Prof. Tim de Zeeuw, is visiting Australia and speaking on the ESO program in Sydney, Canberra, and Melbourne. The Sydney talk is being held as a special colloquium in the School of Physics.
TIME: 10:30am Wednesday 26th November
PLACE: Slade Lecture Theatre - 13 November 2008
New Horizons mission to Pluto
Public talk - Pluto - the planet that used to be. But does that matter? To the scientists behind NASA’s New Horizons mission, Pluto and its moon Charon hold unlocked secrets about ice dwarf planets, the least investigated but most common type of planet in our solar system.
COST: Free
RSVP: Ring 9351 3472 with your name and number of seats required. - 24 October 2008
Bryan Gaensler - wins Young Tall Poppy Science Award, identifying outstanding young Australian researchers ... more - 20 October 2008
Coke bottle vision solved by young Sydney astronomer - or - Cosmic Lens Reveals Distant Galactic Violence ... more and more with pictures
- 15 October 2008, 5:30pm
Magnets in the Sky
Sydney Science Forum public talk - Professor Bryan Gaensler…
COST: Free
RSVP: Bookings can also be made by calling (02) 9351 3021 between 10am and 3pm. - 23 September 2008, 6:30pm
Life, The Universe, and Nothing: Life and Death in an Ever-Expanding Universe.
Public talk - Templeton Lecture 2008 by Professor Lawrence Krauss…
COST: Free - 12 September 2008
Ben Eggleton wins NSW Scientist of the Year Award in Physics and Astronomy. Presented by the NSW Office for Science and Medical Research ...more
10 September 2008, 7pm
Build your own Big Bang
Public talk - As scientists prepare to press the Big Red Button on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the rest of the world waits anxiously to see what will happen…
COST: Free
RSVP: Ring 9351 3472 with your name and number of seats required.- 18 August 2008
CUDOS breakthrough in the News
Ben Eggleton describes photonic switching devices for the Channel 9 Sunday program on 'CUDOS Bandwidth Solution: The Glass Switch' ... Watch the story!
- 14 August 2008, 6.30pm (light refreshments from 6pm)
Pocket Nanotech: The 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics
Public talk - Slade Lecture Theatre, School of Physics, The University of Sydney.
Presented by Professor David McKenzie, University of Sydney, this talk explains Giant Magnetoresistance, the principle that allows a hard-drive to read the tiny bits of magnetic data from disk; without it, iPods and computers could not have advanced to today’s level.
COST: Free
RSVP: Ring 9351 3472 with your name and number of seats required. - 7 August 2008, 6.30pm (light refreshments from 6pm)
The Aurora - Nature's Lightshow in the Sky
Public talk - Slade Lecture Theatre, School of Physics, The University of Sydney.
Presented by Professor Craig Kletzing, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Iowa, USA.
Dept. of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Iowa, USA. In the style of the great Julius Sumner Miller, this talk includes live demonstrations to illustrate some of the basic physics ideas using equipment from the School of Physics. Afterwards, there will be an opportunity for audience members of all ages to speak to Dr Kletzing and see the equipment up close.
COST: Free, with booking.
- 4 August 2008
John O'Byrne, Manju Sharma and Joe Khachan have been awarded an ALTC citation for their long-standing commitment to student learning and innovative teaching ... more - Wagga Wagga - 22 and 23 July 2008
Dubbo - 25 July 2008
Armidale - 28 and 29 July 2008
Regional Science Teachers' Workshop
Modified versions of the Sydney workshop. The regional workshops are also run in conjunction with the HSC Physics Kickstart Workshops for HSC Physics students. - 21 July 2008
Dennis Stello and Hans Bruntt in team that discovers the heartbeat of Polaris, the North star,
has reversed a century of decline ... more - 12 and 13 June 2008
Science Teachers' Workshop
Teachers, take a chance to improve your understanding of physics, share classroom tips and tricks and learn new ways to get your students excited. - 6 June 2008, ABC1 TV
Dr Karl displays physics equipment on 'Collectors'
Why is it so? Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow takes a tour of some of the School's collection of historical equipment. - 28 May 2008
ARC Federation Fellow, Professor Joss Bland-Hawthorn, recently won the Muhlmann Award of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) along with fellow astronomer, Dr Karl Glazebrook.... more - 15 May 2008, 6.30pm
Getting inside the Aurora
Public talk - Slade Lecture Theatre, School of Physics, The University of Sydney.
Presented by Professor James Labelle, University of Sydney International Visiting Research Fellow and Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA.
Come to this fully illustrated public lecture and find out what the Aurora is all about from a scientist who flies rockets loaded with scientific instruments through the ionosphere as it glows and shimmers with Auroral activity.
COST: Free, with booking.
RSVP: 9351 3383 or outreach@physics.usyd.edu.au with name and number of seats required.
18 April 2008
Christopher Hales, a student here at the School of Physics, has been awarded the 2008 Bok Prize ... more
Thursday 27 March 2008
The Universe at Light Speed
Joss Bland-Hawthorn, Ben Eggleton and Bryan Gaensler will present new areas of breakthrough research and discuss the exciting technological future that these discoveries can deliver. Their presentation will be followed by the Physics Alumni Dinner at 8pm. See the Invitation for more details and return the Response Form.- 3 March 2008
Beautiful death-star could threaten Earth... more - 20 February 2008
IoA team discovers that the Milky Way is twice the size we thought it was... more - 12 February 2008, 6.30 pm
Gold, Gold, Gold for Physics
Public talk - Slade Lecture Theatre, School of Physics, The University of Sydney.
Presented by Professor Shuyan Xu, Denison Distinguished Visitor in the School of Physics and Professor of Physics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Kings, Presidents, foreign secretaries and Nobel Prize laureates, satellite news link-ups, and 800 delegates from 85 countries. A meeting of the UN? No, it's the Physics Olympiad and the delegates are 16 year old students solving theoretical and practical physics problems, and loving it.
Light refreshments will be served at 6.15pm.
COST: Free, with booking
RSVP: 9351 3472 or outreach@physics.usyd.edu.au with name and number of seats required. - 24 January 2008
Nano-Fabrication pioneer Kostya (Ken) Ostrikov awarded Academy of Science Pawsey Medal ... more
