Tag Archives: Women in Physics Lecturer 2019

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AIP Summer Meeting; jobs; conferences; and more physics in September

The call for abstracts for the Summer Meeting is now open. We are excited to offer this conference as a ‘cheap and cheerful’ opportunity on our off-Congress years. All welcome and we especially hope to see lots of our students and ECR members there.

Senior Instrument Scientist and neutron-scattering expert Helen Maynard-Casely’s Women in Physics Lecture Tour has finished after a mammoth 40+ lectures! I attended her talk in Canberra and loved going on a journey through the amazing crystals of solar system. I was so impressed by her storytelling skills. More below.  

Congratulations also to Pegah Maasoumi, who has been touring around Queensland spreading the word about foldable mobile phones, Ironman’s suit and solar panel winners on the John Mainstone Youth Lecture Tour.

National Science Week was again a success last month and featured everything from coffee in space with our Australian Physics co-editor Davis Hoxley, the Einstein Lecture with Elisabetta Barberio, and a look at whether bigger telescopes are always better, with Richard de Grijs. Well done to everyone who helped to spread the word about physics during the week.

Congratulations to the Dark Matter Particle Physics team with the announcement of their Centre of Excellence. More below.

Congratulations as well to all winners at last week’s Eureka Prizes. While seven physicists were finalists this year, sadly none walked away with a trophy. Next year!

Also this month: Register your interest for the International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors 2020; Virginia Trimble receives cultural award in physics; meet Jane Turner – our September Hidden Physicist; and find an opportunity in our Jobs Corner.

Kind regards,

Jodie Bradby
President, Australian Institute of Physics
aip_president@physics.org.au

Continue reading AIP Summer Meeting; jobs; conferences; and more physics in September →

Claire Corani Memorial Lecture

A FREE PUBLIC LECTURE will be presented, in conjunction with the Women In Physics Group, by the Australian Institute of Physics (SA branch). It is the Claire Corani Memorial Lecture, being the South Australian lecture in the 2019 AIP Women in Physics Lecture Tour. Dr Helen Maynard-Casely (an Instrument Scientist at ANSTO) will talk on “How neutrons will save the world”.

Abstract: They are small, neutral and often in a spin, and so much more than ‘just’ part of the atom. Neutrons are the sub-atomic particles that are here to save the world. This trusty particle can be called on to discover the details that no other can fathom. From the shape of a virus and how a drug can disable it, to keeping electrons flowing in the next generation of batteries. Neutrons truly are today’s super particle!

Biography: Dr Helen Maynard-Casely is an Instrument Scientist based at ANSTO (the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) where she uses neutrons to investigate the materials that make up our solar system. She has a PhD in high-pressure physics from the University of Edinburgh and has been lucky enough to have collected data in facilities all over the world.

The Claire Corani Memorial prizes, available for award to the top second-year female Physics student at each SA university in 2018, will be presented at the lecture.

QLD, Women in Physics

How Neutrons will save the world in brisbane

How Neutrons Will Save the World!

Women in Physics lecture Tour, 15th August, 2019.

This year’s Women in Physics Lecturer, Dr Helen Maynard-Casely is traveling around the country to tell us how neutrons will save the world! While in the area visiting schools, Helen will be at the University of Queensland, St Lucia campus on the 15th August talking to us about her research in more detail.

Where: Room 03-206

When: 1pm – 2pm 15th August, 2019.

We hope to see you there!

In the meantime, check out what Helen will be chatting about:

Exploring the materials of the solar system with Australia’s central facilities

Our solar system contains a great array of small planetary bodies that show remarkable variability in the chemistry, and subsequent materials, that form on their surfaces.  From sulfuric acid hydrates that are spattered on Europa, to organic minerals that fall in flurries on Titan to the plastic solids of methane and nitrogen on Pluto.

Sadly we’re yet to scoop any sample of these planets and bring them home, however informed by spectral observations from space missions such as Galileo, Cassini and New Horizons, we can re-create their surface chemistries and conditions in the lab.  What this has revealed that despite the ‘simplicity’ of the chemistry involved the surfaces are likely to be made up of a large array of materials with potentially planet-shaping properties. 

I’ll overview some of the materials we’ve found, and why central facilities (like the OPAL neutron source and Australian Synchrotron) have been crucial for this work.  Hopefully, I’ll also show how this is very much a growing business, and with new exoplanets being discovered daily there is still a wide range of materials that need to be investigated.    

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Neutrons will save the world; physicists in the Eureka Awards; how to survive the end of the universe during National Science Week; and more physics in august

National Science Week is happening from August 10 to 18 and is packed with many wonderful physics events. We’ve selected some of the best physics events around the country and listed them below.

“How neutrons will save the world” is the topic of our 2019 Women in Physics lecture, given by Dr Helen Maynard-Casely from ANSTO. Helen has now begun her tour in Tasmania and after 36 talks all over Australia will finish at the Girls in Physics Breakfast in Melbourne on Wednesday 28 August. Good luck Helen! More below.

The AIP national executive team were at ANU last week for a packed two days of strategic planning, priority-setting and discussions. We are working on a strategic plan and new opportunities to promote all things physics in Australia. Stay tuned for more in the coming months.

Several physicists were announced last week as finalists for the 2019 Eureka Prizes. Read all about them here. Winners will be announced at the end of this month. Good luck to all finalists!

I really enjoyed the great posts on the AIP Instagram account from the Australians attending the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings in Germany last month. SBS journalist Lydia Feng also attended the meetings and wrote about the young women levelling out gender imbalance in science. Women comprised eight out of the 13 physicists chosen by the Australian Academy of Science to attend.

Also this month: Nominate for the 2019 NSW Community Outreach to Physics award, read about the speediest quantum operation yet, meet Registered Patent Attorney Matthew Lay – our August Hidden Physicist, and find an opportunity in our Jobs Corner.

Kind regards,
Jodie Bradby
President, Australian Institute of Physics

Continue reading Neutrons will save the world; physicists in the Eureka Awards; how to survive the end of the universe during National Science Week; and more physics in august →
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AIP Summer Meeting; neutrons will save the world; foldable phones; jobs; and more physics in July

We are excited to announce that the AIP is running a Summer Meeting on 3rd – 6th December 2019 at RMIT University in Melbourne. The meeting aims to showcase the upcoming talent in physics and will offer career development opportunities for students and early career researchers, including a jobs fair and a brilliant scientific program. Details here https://aip-summer-meeting.com/

A group of Australian students are attending the 29th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany and they’re taking over our new AIP Instagram account. See what they’re doing here.

July 5th 2019 marks the International Day of LGBTQ+ People in STEM. I’m so proud to be the president of an organisation that supports diversity and inclusion in STEM. And take a look at our social media accounts that have gone rainbow for the day!

This month in our new Hidden Physicists section, we’re featuring Eliza-Jane Pearsall, who is loving her job as Assistant Director of Policy Analysis at the Department of Social Security. Get in touch if you’d like to nominate a ‘hidden’ physicist for us to profile. More below.

This month Harvard physicist Lene Hau will present ‘Nothing goes faster than light… usually!’ at UNSW on July 23rd. For August: Helen Maynard-Casely will tour the country to talk about how neutrons will save the world for the Women in Physics lectures; Pegah Maasoumi will be around Queensland, talking about Ironman’s suit and solar panel windows on the John Mainstone lecture tour; and Elisabetta Barberio will present the 2019 Einstein lecture exploring what we know so far about dark matter. Details below.

I am also very proud to say that we found two Australian physicists honoured in the Queen’s Birthday 2018 Honours list. Congratulations to Olivia Samardzic and Michelle Simmons! Olivia is a long-time AIP executive team member and looks after the AIP awards and medals, and Michelle of course is a quantum physicist and 2018 Australian of the Year. If you know of other physicists, please let us know.

We await the results of the South Australian Science Excellence Awards with shortlisted physicists Andre Luiten and James Tickner. Good luck!

In WA, hear from medical physicist Pejman Rowshanfarzad about the latest advances in radiotherapy machines at the WA Branch AIP General Meeting on Thursday 11th July. Register by emailing WA Branch Chair Dean Leggo.

Also this month: mentoring and guidance in careers (MAGIC) workshop for women ECRs, five of Australia’s brightest students to attend the International Physics Olympiad in Israel, apply for a role at CSIRO as an optical satellite systems engineer and more jobs in our Jobs Corner.

Finally, if you know someone considering becoming a member, let them know that now is an excellent time to join. From July 1st, new members pay only 50 per cent of the membership rates for the remainder of the year.

Continue reading AIP Summer Meeting; neutrons will save the world; foldable phones; jobs; and more physics in July →
Bulletin, Women in Physics

Cleaning the Sydney Harbour Bridge with lasers; make science a focus this election; and more physics in April

It’s been an exciting month for Australian physics. And particularly for women in physics. We started with a call for gender balance around the world on International Women’s Day earlier this month. The AIP is striving to achieve gender balance in a variety of ways, including the Women in Physics group and annual Women in Physics lecture tour that supports a female physicist touring the country. 

I’m very excited to announce the Women in Physics lecturer for 2019: a talented physicist who will be spreading the good word about how neutrons can save the world. Read on to see who it is! 

We thank Pegah Maasoumi for her time as the Chair of the Women in Physics group for the last two years. We are looking for a new chair of this committee. Please send in an expression of interest if you’d like to take on this important role.

The cut off to renew your AIP membership was last Sunday, but it’s easy to renew (just email aip@physics.org.au with your request). If you need your memory jogged about all the benefits of being a member of AIP, read on below.

Jacq Romero is on a winning streak and will receive $1 million in combined funding over three years for the Westpac Research Fellowship. Our 1999 Women in Physics lecturer, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, has donated her £2.3m Breakthrough Prize to the Institute of Physics to a new PhD scholarship fund to encourage greater diversity in physics. Register your interest to keep up to date with the Scholarship Fund.

I attended Science and Technology Australia’s (STA) President and CEO Forum in Sydney last week. STA represents more than 77,000 scientists and technology workers and is heavily focused on promoting science in the upcoming election cycle. We added the AIP logo to the STA media release as part of the #SolveitwithScience campaign (along with those of almost 100 other Australian science and technology organisations!) I encourage you to support the campaign by writing to or meeting your local member or candidates. More below.

The 14th Asia-Pacific Physics Conference will be held in Malaysia from 17-22 November. Only eight Australians are registered so far and it would be great to see a stronger Australian cohort. Last time this conference was held in Australia. Submit your abstracts before Monday 15th April.

Also in April: the largest telescope in Victoria officially opened, physicists found that quantum tunnelling is instantaneous, National Science Week grants are open and it’s prize season so don’t forget to nominate, or encourage others to nominate today.

Finally, as part of a push to make the AIP a useful resource for our student and ECR members, keep an eye out in our new section called Jobs Corner. We’re going to start featuring physics-related jobs. Send us through any opportunities you’d like to advertise and we’ll include a link for free.

Kind regards,
Jodie Bradby

President, Australian Institute of Physics

Continue reading Cleaning the Sydney Harbour Bridge with lasers; make science a focus this election; and more physics in April →