Ted Forgan University of Birmingham 30.05.2013 17:30 Auditoire

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LES JEUDIS DES SCIENCES COLLOQUIUM GENERALE
LEÇON 182 SEMESTRE XXIV
Cool Science: demonstrations of
what you can do with liquid nitrogen
Ted Forgan University of Birmingham
30.05.2013 17:30
Auditoire B02 Campus Kirchberg
Many things behave quite differently when you cool them towards absolute zero:
rubber is no longer rubbery, air becomes liquid and some metals lose all trace of
electrical resistance, so that electric currents can show “perpetual motion”. Ted
Forgan, who has spent his career researching superconductors and low temperature
physics, will present a lecture-demonstration of these effects. He will explain why
superconductivity is a wonderful example of the effects of quantum mechanics –
the wavelike properties of particles – but in large-scale objects that you can see,
instead of inside atoms.
Ted Forgan has been based in Birmingham UK for all his scientific career, but since
1984 has spent much time at large international facilities using neutrons, muons and
X-rays to investigate superconducting and magnetic materials, and more recently the
alignment of biological materials in high magnetic fields. He combines this fundamental research with an enthusiastic lecturing style to explain the mysteries of the
quantum world that appear when things are cooled to low temperatures. His achievements in the study of flux lines in superconductors were recognised by the award of
the 2004 Mott Medal and Prize from the UK Institute of Physics.
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