![]() The Schuster Laboratory, home to the Department of Physics and Astronomy | |
Former names | School of Physics and Astronomy (2004–2019) |
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Head of Department | Professor Christopher Parkes [1] |
Location | , |
Affiliations | Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Manchester |
Website | physics |
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester is one of the largest and most active physics departments in the UK, taking around 330 new undergraduates and 50 postgraduates each year, and employing more than 80 members of academic staff and over 100 research fellows and associates. [2] The department is based on two sites: the Schuster Laboratory on Brunswick Street and the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics in Cheshire, international headquarters of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). [3]
According to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the department is the 9th best physics department in the world and best in Europe. [4] It is ranked 2nd place in the UK by Grade Point Average (GPA) according to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in 2021, being only behind the University of Sheffield. [5] The University has a long history of physics dating back to 1874, which includes 12 Nobel Prize laureates]], [6] most recently Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov who were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their discovery of graphene. [7] [8]
The Department of Physics and Astronomy comprises eight research groups:
Research in the department of Physics has been funded by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) [9] and the Royal Society.
As of 2015 [update] the department employs 53 Professors, including Emeritus Professors. [10]
The department has origins dating back to 1874 when Balfour Stewart was appointed the first Langworthy Professor of Physics at Owens College, Manchester. Stewart was the first to identify an electrified atmospheric layer (now known as the ionosphere) which could distort the Earth's magnetic field. The theory of the ionosphere was postulated by Carl Friedrich Gauss in 1839, Stewart published the first experimental confirmation of the theory in 1878. [18] Since then, the department has hosted many award-winning scientists [18] including:
In 2004, the two separate departments of Physics at the Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) were merged to form the current Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. The department was known as the School of Physics and Astronomy until a 2019 reshuffle.
The department is also home to several Emeritus Scientists, pursuing their research interests after their formal retirement including:
David Mervyn Blow was an influential British biophysicist. He was best known for the development of X-ray crystallography, a technique used to determine the molecular structures of tens of thousands of biological molecules. This has been extremely important to the pharmaceutical industry.
Sir Frederic Calland Williams,, known as F.C. Williams or Freddie Williams, was an English engineer, a pioneer in radar and computer technology.
John Sibthorp was an English botanist.
Malcolm Sim Longair is a British physicist. From 1991 to 2008 he was the Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. Since 2016 he has been Editor-in-Chief of the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society.
Brebis Bleaney was a British physicist. His main area of research was the use of microwave techniques to study the magnetic properties of solids. He was head of the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford from 1957 to 1977. In 1992, Bleaney received the International Zavoisky Award "for his contribution to the theory and practice of electron paramagnetic resonance of transition ions in crystals."
Andrew Christopher Fabian is a British astronomer and astrophysicist. He was Director of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge from 2013 to 2018. He was a Royal Society Research Professor at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge from 1982 to 2013, and Vice-Master of Darwin College, Cambridge from 1997 to 2012. He served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society from May 2008 through to 2010.
The Turing Talk, previously known as the Turing Lecture, is an annual award lecture delivered by a noted speaker on the subject of Computer Science. Sponsored and co-hosted by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the British Computer Society, the talk has been delivered at different locations in the United Kingdom annually since 1999. Venues for the talk have included Savoy Place, the Royal Institution in London, Cardiff University, The University of Manchester, Belfast City Hall and the University of Glasgow. The main talk is preluded with an insightful speaker, who performs an opening act for the main event.
Nicholas John Seymour Mackintosh, was a British experimental psychologist and author, specialising in intelligence, psychometrics and animal learning.
Fellowship of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) is "the highest level of membership attainable" by physicists who are members of the Institute of Physics (IoP), "for those with a degree in physics or related subject and who have made a significant impact on their sector"; it is for "distinguished physicists in recognition of their accomplishments".
The Gurdon Institute is a research facility at the University of Cambridge, specialising in developmental biology and cancer biology.
Iain Donald Campbell was a Scottish biophysicist and academic. He was Professor of Structural Biology at the University of Oxford from 1992 to 2009.
Richard Edwin Hills was a British astronomer who was emeritus professor of Radio Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.
The Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester is one of the largest departments of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, with over 600 undergraduate and more than 200 postgraduate research students.
Robin Marshall is an Emeritus professor of Physics & Biology in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester.
Sarah "Sally" Lois Price is a British chemist who is a Professor of Physical Chemistry at University College London.
Anthony Raymond Bell is a British physicist. He is a professor of physics at the University of Oxford and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He is a senior research fellow at Somerville College, Oxford.
Neil Burgess is a British neuroscientist. He has been a professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London since 2004 and a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow since 2011. He has made important contributions to understanding memory and spatial cognition by developing computational models relating behaviour to activity in biological neural networks.
James Roy Taylor is an English physicist who is professor of ultrafast physics and technology at Imperial College London.
Ian William Murison Smith was a chemist who served as a research fellow and lecturer in the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge from 1963 to 1985 and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Birmingham from 1985 to 2002.