Beacon Lecture Thurs 1st Dec

The new series of lectures, the Beacon lectures are free and open to all, and take place on Thursday evenings from 6-7pm in Physics Lecture Theatre C in the Physics building at the North Haugh. The lectures highlight post-doctoral researchers from various departments showcasing the cutting edge research being undertaken at the University. [Complete lecture series list]

1st December 2011
Vortices in the atmosphere
Dr Yu (Sue) Liu, School of Mathematics and Statistics
Vortices in atmosphere are air masses that spin as they move around. Some of them are well-known: we frequently hear about tornados and hurricanes, as well as the trail of destruction they often leave behind. But vortices come in all shapes and sizes, and in our group we study their evolutions and interactions, using a combination of mathematical analysis and numerical simulations. In this talk, I'll describe some recent research progress, particularly on the special case of the polar vortex (as the name suggests, it sits over the poles). The polar vortex has complex and important effects on chemistry (e.g. in antarctic ozone depletion) and understanding their evolution is therefore of great relevance to understanding the Earth's climate system.

8th December 2011
Thinking about the impossible
Dr Colin Caret, School of Philosophy