Lancaster Physitation - Wednesday 11 September 2002 4pm-7pm

Lancaster University's Physics Department, in association with the Lancashire & Cumbria branch of the Institute of Physics is arranging an 'Open Day' on the afternoon of Wednesday 11 September 2002. Come along and see what a 5*A (research rating) Physics department is doing. You can drop in at any time from 4pm to 6.30pm and be given an informal tour of the research, computing and teaching facilities.

Visitors will be taken to see some or all of the following:

+ NMR lab (nuclear magnetic resonance) - imaging of materials using the 'ringing' effect from individual nuclei in the atoms - the basis of MRI scanners in hospitals

+ Ultra-low temperature lab - world record low temperatures achieved here, millionths of a degree above absolute zero

+ High Performance computer lab - university facility used by physicists and others

+ Clean room / semiconductor opto-electronics labs

+ Computational physics lab

+ High Energy Particle Physics lab - displays of high energy collisions from experiments at world class labs such as CERN, Geneva and Fermilab, Chicago

+ Spark chamber - to see cosmic rays arriving from the sky

+ Telescope observatory (telescope not in use, obviously, as it will not be dark)

+ Atomic Force Microscopes / nanoindentation (hardness) testers / microthermal analysis labs

There will also be a brief formal presentation by Professor Peter McClintock at 6.45pm to conclude the 'Physitation'. To help us arrange refreshments, please e-mail r.haley@lancs.ac.uk or phone Jacqui Hardwick on 01524 593639 by Tuesday 10 September if possible. Suitable for all ages.