Past Events

On the 21st of October 2024 evening, many University staff and students and external guests gathered for the Stargazing in the Botanic Gardens event, to mark the birthday of Anne Cruickshank, the founder of both Cruickshank Botanic Garden in 1898 and the Cruickshank Lectureship in Astronomy in 1924.

The indoor programme included an interactive hands-on experience with the new 16” aperture advanced University telescope via a gaming-style mobile device interfere with live celestial data and visualisations. Guests enjoyed visiting the Zoology Museum , and were entertained with cross-boundary and inclusive short talks reflecting the Cruickshank family's lasting contribution to the University, fascinating applications of the telescope in astronomy and its 'cousin' microscope in biology. Some guests talked to the speakers afterwards on a variety of University subjects including the new Physics with Astrophysics degree.

In the Rose Garden, guests were excited to meet several astronomers, who not only shared their amazing telescopes but also their invaluable experiences. Finally, like playing a game, the outcome each run does lean a bit on luck. The stars had decided to hide behind mostly the clouds until near the end of the event when the sky cleared up and some of last guests took a glimpse of Saturn's Rings! The University organisers wish to thank Aberdeen Astronomical Society , Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden , STEM Ambassadors , and student volunteers for their time and support.

Image credits: University of Aberdeen, Charles Wang

An Undergraduate Open Day took place on 5 October 2024. The Department of Physics joined the rest of the University to welcome about 1100 prospective students to the University of Aberdeen. Physics gave lab tours and demonstrations of the new telescope.

Dr Charles Wang gave a talk on modern astronomy on the 2nd of October 2024 at Fraserburgh Academy, at the invitation of Physics Teacher Mr Fraser Burnett. Surrounded by vast and exquisite countryside in Fraserburgh, Dr Wang was delighted to visit this vibrant academy with a growing number of pupils interested in physics. Following the talk, Mr Burnett remarked "It was both enjoyable and accessible" and "hit the mark with the level at which the talk was pitched with all our pupils taking away a newfound interest in the night sky." Among the audience was a Higher Physics pupil who shared his amazement about how maths ties in with gravity that pulls together all things on Earth and in space.

Image credit: Fraserburgh Academy

Dr Francisco Perez-Reche gave two public talks as part of the Aberdeen Science Festival on 24-25 September 2024.

The first, on the University of Aberdeen campus, was called "What do gases, epidemics, society and life have in common?", and covered how simple models can be used to understand complex systems in many different contexts.

The second, at the Lemon Tree, was part of the festival's Café Controversial, and was called "Ideas of Death". Alongside two other speakers, Paco spoke about deaths linked to epidemics and recent data analyses of death rates in the UK.​

Dr Charles Wang , Cruickshank Lecturer in Astronomy, was thrilled to give an invited talk on 24 September 2024 at Meldrum Academy. The talk highlighted the importance of imagination and challenging the status quo in science. Organised by Mrs Judith Brennan, Teacher of Physics at the Academy, the participating Higher and Advanced Higher pupils were presented with amazing interdisciplinary reaches between astrophysics and subjects including chemistry, geology, data, and artificial intelligence. Mrs Gudrun Przygoda, Teacher of Chemistry and Physics at the Academy and Duke of Edinburgh Gold Coordinator, joined the event and commented "It is so valuable for our pupils to experience talks by researchers when they start planning their possible university future." The talk included a video demonstrating recently acquired new advanced Aberdeen University telescope with a further planned new University Observatory in the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, which were well received with excitement and requests for further updates.

Image credit: Meldrum Academy

On 29th August 2024​ we welcomed 35 S6 students to the Department of Physics, from several local schools: Aberdeen Grammar School, Alford Academy, Banchory Academy, Bridge of Don Academy, Cults Academy, Dyce Academy, Forres Academy, Hazlehead Academy, Lochside Academy, Mackie Academy, Meldrum Academy, and Portlethen Academy​.
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The day started with an introductory talk by Dr Ross Macpherson , followed by three talks on various aspects of physics and the Department's research:

• Prof. David McGloin , "The Gentle Touch: Using Lasers to probe the Microworld"
• Dr Nicolas Rubido , "Synchronization: Overview of a collective behaviour emerging in fireflies, power grids, neurons, and lasers"
• Dr Roland Young​ , "Exploring the Solar System"

This was followed by a tour of the undergraduate labs, including demonstrations of electron diffraction, Young's double slit experiment, Fourier optics, spectroscopy, and a Helmholtz coil. Demonstrations were led by Dr Kapil Debnath , Dr Sandip George , and Dr Ross Macpherson .

Finally, students were able to see the University's new telescope, demonstrated by Dr Charles Wang .

An Undergraduate Open Day took place on 27 August 2024. The Department of Physics met with many prospective students, and gave lab tours and telescope tours.

Physics academic Dr Charles Wang and student Oleksii Sokoliuk led three knowledge and activity sessions on "Astronomical Imaging with AI" during the STEM Summer Showcase organised by the University of Aberdeen on 18th June 2024. Taking place in the University's Science Teaching Hub , the event was well attended by S5/S6 school pupils studying STEM related subjects, thinking about a career in science together with some teachers. We were delighted to present and demonstrate how a modern computerised astronomical telescope system works with truly interdisciplinary areas including data science and artificial intelligence. It was amazing to see how engaging and inspired the participating pupils were during our STEM Showcase sessions.

Image credit: Charles Wang

Staff and current physics students, led by Dr Ross Macpherson , met with and gave lab tours for prospective students holding offers for undergraduate study at the University's Offer Holder Day on 24 April 2024.

On the 12th of March, Dr Nicolás Rubido Obrer (Lecturer at the Institute of Complex Systems and Mathematical Biology) gave an illuminating public talk on the "Stability of the Solar System and Chaos" during an Aberdeen Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting. The event took place at Robert Gordon's College in Aberdeen city centre and was chaired by Neville Browne (AAS Outreach & Education Officer). The talk received enthusiastic interest, with many curious questions and thoughtful comments from the attending members of the AAS and the public, as well as students and colleagues for the University of Aberdeen, who joined the event in-person and online.

Image credit: Charles Wang

We had an incredible time at the Institute of Physics -organized Girls into Physics workshops on February 28th at Robert Gordon College and February 29th at Inverness Royal Academy. These sessions aim to inspire girls to pursue STEM, and we showcased how to build a spectrometer with simple household items. The workshops were highly interactive and a great success.

We were pleased to visit the Community Centre of Auchinleck in East Ayrshire on 27 Feb to demonstrate an astronomical telescope system to the Auchinleck STEP Youth Group. The activity was led by Dr Charles Wang (Physics staff) with Oleksii Sokoliuk (Physics student & STEM Ambassador) organised by Stuart Mitchell (Senior Youth Co-ordinator) and Science Ceilidh under the Curiosity in Action programme. It was great to see how much some of the Group enjoyed getting hands on the telescope with computer visualisations.

Image credit: Auchinleck STEP Youth Group

On the 17th of January, we were delighted to host about 30 P5/P6 students from Oldmachar Academy for an engaging lab visit. This included lectures by Prof. David McGloin (demonstrating the use of acoustic trapping) and Dr Murilo S. Baptista (on Chaos theory), and a few experiments, such as finding the strength of a magnet (Dr Sandip George ), spectroscopy (Dr Claudiu Giuraniuc ), Newton's rings (Dr Kapil Debnath ), and Young's double slit experiment (Dr Ross Macpherson ).

On 9 January 2024 Dr Charles Wang , Cruickshank Lecturer in Astronomy, gave a public lecture for the Aberdeen Astronomical Society. The topic was "Quantum Gravity in Astronomy" and took place at Robert Gordon College in Aberdeen.