A New Kilogram in 2018: The Biggest Revolution in Metrology Since the French Revolution
Metrology - the science of measurements - is responsible for the international uniformity and precision in standards. Today, the seven units for meter, kilogram, second, ampere, kelvin, mole, and candela of our international system of units (SI units....
More details | Watch nowA Quantum Gas
The quantum gas is an extreme state of an ensemble of atoms when their de Broglie wave length is of the same length as the size of the container. The ways of achieving this state are described and also how its temperature is defined.
More details | Watch nowC60+ in space – a 28-year detective story about the Diffuse Interstellar Bands – Part 1
John Maier, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Basel, describes the journey from the prediction of C60+ in 1987, through tentative assignment of its electronic spectrum by Radioastronomy, measurement in a neon-matrix and finally, in....
More details | Watch nowChemistry and Captain Scott’s 1901 Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic
Dr Derek Craston, the UK Government Chemist, reveals how Captain Scott's preparations for his 1901 Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic included a personal request to the Government Chemist to analyse his planned food supplies. Tellingly, the resea....
More details | Watch nowDynamics of Chemical Reactions
Every macroscopic chemical transformation, whether it is atmospheric ozone depletion or the burning of a candle, consists of millions of microscopic chemical events, which involve collisions between molecules. It has been the dream of scientists fo....
More details | Watch nowEvery picture tells a story
We will look at the role of pictures and images in the development of science. From the first graphs and illustrated books to Molscript, the influence of the first pictures of spiral galaxies on Van Gogh's 'Starry Night', to the artistic resonances o....
More details | Watch nowFibre and Sunlight
Fine tuning the frequencies of light gave John Hall a Nobel Prize, and helped transform the fields of precision measurement and information transmission. Iris Choi and Andrei Ghicov are young scientists excited by the ways physics can change our worl....
More details | Watch nowFinding the right balance: from rare gases to ribosomes
In this lecture Carol discusses the developments in accurately weighing atoms and molecules, from the earliest experiments used to examine gases through to the analysis of organic chemicals. She describes how she and other researchers developed innov....
More details | Watch nowFive Decades of Lasers, Six Decades of Progress, and a Proposed Space Experiment to test Einstein’s Assumptions
Even though this is the 51st year of the Laser, progress in its control and application in precision measurements is still accelerating. The Optical Frequency Comb technology exploded in 1999-2000 from the synthesis of advances in independent field....
More details | Watch nowFrom Millisecond to Attosecond Laser Pulses
A historical overview is presented of the experimental development of ever shorter laser pulses from 1960 to the present. Already in the early sixties nanosecond pulses were achieved and the entry into the picosecond domain was reached in the late s....
More details | Watch nowFT-ICR. The Key to Unlocking Nature’s Isotopic Zoo
Alan G. Marshall, Florida State University's 2006-2007 Lawton Professor, will speak on 'Reading Chemical 'Fine Print': The Key to Unlocking Nature's Isotopic Zoo' as he delivers the Tenth Annual Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor Lecture.'Natur....
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