St Mary’s Hosts Events as Part of British Science Week

St Mary’s University, Twickenham has celebrated British Science Week with a series of events, including a guided talk of the solar eclipse, at its Strawberry Hill campus. During the week, which ran from 13^th to 20^th March, St Mary’s Applied Physics team hosted a range of events including a free public lecture Is the universe a bit closer? There were also a range of hands-on workshops and team challenges for local sixth form students where they were encouraged to consider all the elements of light and what they could do with it. The week culminated in a guided talk of the solar eclipse on Friday 20^th March. Despite a cloudy day in London, more than 150 local school children, members of the community and staff members attended the event which was led by Applied Physics Programme Director Dr Elisabetta Canetta and Lecturer in Physics Dr Ali Mozaffari. The team spoke about the difference between solar and lunar eclipses and the process for an eclipse to take place. Guests were then invited to move to St Mary’s rugby pitch where they could experience various elements of the eclipse such as a drop in temperature and increase in wind speed, or, ‘eclipse wind’. About the week Dr Canetta said, “It was fantastic to see so many people, ranging from very young children to the older generation, coming along our British Science Week events. The enthusiasm and high-level engagement shown by the Year 11, 12 and BTEC students that joined our “Team Challenge” event was mesmerizing. Also the solar eclipse event was very successful despite the disappointing weather conditions. This showed the large level of interest that the community inside and outside St Mary’s had for our British Science Week events.” On Monday 20^th April from 6.30pm, St Mary’s is hosting the third in its Physics Café series. The evening will be led by Dr Gianluca Memoli from the National Physical Laboratory who will discuss the sound of bubbles. The café is free and open to members of the public. For more information please contact Dr Canetta on elisabetta.canetta@stmarys.ac.uk