A century of General Relativity

November 2015 marks an important date in the history of Physics because one hundred years ago, Albert Einstein wrote the equations of General Relativity.

The main idea of this theory is the fact that the space-time fabric is affected by the presence of matter.

 

In this video, Brian Greene explains complex concepts using simple terms.

       

Proton beams are back in the LHC

After two years of intense maintenance and consolidation, and several months of preparation for restart, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, is back in operation. Today at 10.41am, a proton beam was back in the 27-kilometer ring ...
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UNESCO declares 2015 International Year of Light

UNESCO's International Years have been celebrated since 1959 and some are based on science topics, such as Physics, Astronomy or Chemistry.

This year UNESCO is celebrating the International Year of Light because in 2015 there are some anniversaries related to light: the notion of the wave nature of light is 200 years old, the development of electromagnetism is 150 years old and The General Relativity Theory, which includes the speed of light as an essential part, is 100 years old.

 

Image from http://www.eps.org/

 

The most significant aspect of this International Year is the fact that light connects many different fields such as Astronomy, Medicine, Arts and Technology.

There will be different events around the world in order to communicate the importance of light in our daily life.

From http://physicsworld.com

Written by Laura Blanco and Tania Conde - 3rd ESO (9th grade).

Forgotten women scientists (I): Lise Meitner

Lise Meitner is a famous woman physicist who was born in Vienna in 1878. Her parents were Jewish and she had 7 brothers and sisters. As a child she was very good at science and math and she went to University where she studied physics.
 

Image from wikipedia.org

Meitner lived and worked in Austria, Germany, Sweden and UK. She worked with Otto Hahn for 30 years in Berlin. They both studied radioactivity and discovered the protactinium isotope. Later she became a physics professor at the University of Berlin, where she started her research on nuclear physics, discovering the nuclear fission in 1939. She carried out experiments on nuclear fission together with Hahn. He received the Physics Nobel Prize in 1944 for his scientific research into fission, but Meitner's research and discoveries were not recognised.

However, she received many different scientific awards and honors during her life.

She died in England in 1968 at the age of eighty-nine.

 

 

From http://famousfemalescientists.com/lise-meitner/

 

Written by Antía, Andrea and Rosalía - 3rd ESO (9th grade)

 

 

Alfred Nobel, the dynamite inventor

Alfred Nobel was a famous scientist, inventor and businessman and he was also the founder of the Nobel Prizes. He was born on October 21 (1833) in Stockholm, Sweden. His father was an engineer and inventor, and his mother came from a wealthy family. He had two older brothers and a younger one.

 

He lived in Stockholm until 1842. Then he moved to Russia with his family because his father had a successful business there. Alfred was interested in literature, chemistry and physics, but his father decided to send him to Paris to study and become a chemical engineer.

 

The Nobel family returned to Sweden in 1863, and Alfred concentrated on developing nitroglycerine as an explosive. Although his experiments resulted in accidents, he didn't give up. Alfred invented, thanks to his experiments, dynamite and he set up factories in 90 different places. He lived in Paris, but he travelled to his factories a lot. He worked in Stockholm, Hamburg, Paris, San Remo, etc. He also experimented in making synthetic rubber and leather and artificial silk.

 

He died in San Remo, Italy on December 10, 1896.

 

His last wish was to give prizes to those who have done their best for humanity. So the first Nobel prizes were in 1901.

 

Image from Wikipedia

 

 

From http://www.nobelprize.org/

 

Written by Nora, Olalla and María (3rd ESO - 9th grade).

 

 

Production of hydrogen fuel using sunlight

Michael Grätzel, a Swiss chemist, and his group developed a photovoltaic device using perovskites which are cheap and abundant materials. This device is used to break water into hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight. 

Grätzel's gadget improves the efficiency and price of previous aproaches using silicon. But more work is needed on the durability and stability of the solar cells.

 

 

 

From https://www.sciencenews.org/article/solar-cell-powers-water-hydrogen-conversion

 

Written by Marisol, Noa and Sofía (3rd ESO - 9th grade).

 

 

Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton is a very famous physicist and mathematican. He was born on January 4th, 1643 in Lincolnshire, England. His mother is Hanna Ayscought and his father is Isaac Newton. They were peasants. Newton never knew his dad because he died before he was born. His mother remarried Barnabás Smith, and his stepfather didn`t want him so he returned with her grandmother until his death. Isaac Newton studied in King`s school, in Grantham, in 1660. Then he studied at Cambridge University. Newton developed the principles of modern physics. He was famous because of his idea of universal gravitation, the reflection telescopes and the theory of light. Isaac Newton died in 1727.

 

From wikipedia.org

 

 

www.biography.com 

http://www-old.newton.ac.uk/newton.html

 

Written by Laura Blanco and Tania Conde - 3rd ESO A (9th grade).
 

Fight against cancer

In the past, we only had a radiation treatment for cancer. This treatment is based on X-rays. It's not very good, speacially for children, because it can hurt other parts of the body.

 

Seventy years ago, Robert Wilson had the idea of using the proton therapy. Now this charged-particle therapy is very famous, because it mainly damages the tumor. It's used in Unites States in fourteen centers and in other countries such as Germany, Italy, China or Japan.

 

Image from symmetrymagazine.org

 

From http://symmetrymagazine.org/article/september-2014/accelerating-the-fight-against-cáncer

 

Written by Antón, Carlos and José (3rd ESO A - 9th grade)

CERN is celebrating 60 years of science for peace in 2014

CERN is a high-energy particle physics organization located near Geneve. Currently, it has 21 member states, including Spain, although many other countries from around the world also participate in its research programme.

 

Tomorrow 29th September, it will be exactly 60 years since the organization was founded.

The core mission of CERN is fundamental research. In the pursuit of these ambitious scientific goals, the laboratory drives innovation, developes cutting-edge technology and promotes knowledge exchange with a broad impact on society such as hadron therapy, ultra-high vacuum technology or x-Ray difraction.

Gravitational waves have been detected

Researchers from Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, using a telescope located at the South Pole, have detected gravitational waves. If the results are confirmed, this discovery could be a signal from the beginning of time.

These waves, according to inflation theory, are images of the hypothetical particles gravitons that transmit gravity in quantum theory.

From www.nytimes.com

How big is a nanometer?

Nanoscience and nanotechnology study the application of extremely small things that can be used in other science fields, such as chemistry, biology and engineering.
In order to understand the world of nanotechnology, we need to get an idea of the units of measure involved.

A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter although it is still large compared to the atomic scale.

Watch this video, from World Science Festival, to learn more about how big a nanometer is.