Physics: Bright Ideas!
On the evening of Wednesday, 2nd May, King's was delighted to welcome Professor Ian Walmsley, who gave a fascinating and highly entertaining lecture on Optics to an audience of pupils, parents and staff from King's and many other schools from around Gloucestershire. Professor Walmsley is a Fellow of the Royal Society and has had a distinguished career at Oxford University researching a range of fields related to quantum optics and will soon be moving to become Provost of Imperial College London, one of the most senior academic posts in the country, returning to the institution where he took his undergraduate degree.
Professor Walmsley's lecture was a whistle-stop tour of how the study of light has led to breakthroughs in fundamental physics, as well as leading to new discoveries in other sciences such as astronomy, biology and chemistry. With a range of fascinating demonstrations, often using everyday objects such as laser pointers and 3D glasses from the cinema, he brought complex ideas to life in an engaging way. He concluded with an overview of the current state of the field and the ways in which light continues to illuminate the modern world, from allowing access to extremes of temperature and ultrafast time scales to forming a key component of quantum computers.
Professor Walmsley's obvious enthusiasm for, and deep knowledge of, his subject will have inspired all those who attended and instilled in them a strong appreciation for the light that we sometimes take for granted. His parting challenge to the audience - that it might be them who make the next big discovery in this area - will undoubtedly stimulate their imaginations.
Biography
Professor Ian Walmsley graduated from Imperial College, London, with first class honours in physics, before moving to America to complete his PhD at the University of Rochester, undertaking post-doctoral work at Cornell and then further academic posts at Rochester. Professor Walmsley returned to the UK to the University of Oxford, where he is currently Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation, and Hooke Professor of Experimental Physics. He leads the Networked Quantum Information Technologies Hub, which is building the core elements of a quantum computer and headed up the creation of the Rosalind Franklin Institute, a national multidisciplinary research centre. Professor Walmsley is President of the Optical Society of America, a Fellow of the Institute of Physics; in 2011 he was awarded the Young Medal and Prize, before being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2012 for his contributions to quantum and ultrafast optics. In September, Professor Walmsley returns to Imperial to take up the post of Provost.
