Event Details

Join American physicist and Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor William D. Phillips, who will host an explosive public lecture at Lancaster University this November featuring exciting demonstrations and down-to-earth explanations.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Einstein changed the way we think about time. Now, early in the 21st Century, the measurement of time is being revolutionised by the ability to cool a gas of atoms to temperatures millions of times lower than any naturally occurring temperature in the universe.

Atomic clocks, the best timekeepers ever made, are one of the scientific and technological wonders of modern life. Such super-accurate clocks are essential to industry, commerce, and science; they are the heart of the Global Positioning System (GPS) which guides cars, aeroplanes, and hikers to their destinations.

Today, the best primary atomic clocks use ultracold atoms, achieve accuracies of about one second in 300 million years, and are getting better all the time, while a new generation of atomic clocks is leading us to re-define what we mean by time. Super-cold atoms, with temperatures that can be below a billionth of a degree above absolute zero, use, and allow tests of, some of Einstein’s strangest predictions.

Join us to hear from Nobel Prize Laureate Professor William Phillips, who will provide a fun and educational overview on how fundamental research influences our daily lives.

The lecture will be followed by a question and answer session and a drinks reception.