Santa is real… but he does have to obey the laws of physics. That’s according to Dr Rob Appleby, lecturer in high energy particle physics at The University of Manchester.
Did you know that without mathematicians, the entire Universe would crumble and decay into nothing? At least, that’s according to a classic episode of Doctor Who (our School of Mathematics colleagues are good, but even they’re not holding-together-the-very-fabric-of-the-Universe good). Logopolis is the final instalment in the adventures of the Fourth Doctor, played by the legendary […]
If 2018 is remembered for anything (and a lot has happened this year), it will be the extreme weather. This was the year the UK experienced its longest sustained heatwave for 12 years, beginning just three months after the spring cold wave known as the Beast from the East froze our toes. Swapping from thermals […]
More than 70 years after the Enigma was cracked by Alan Turing and his colleagues at Bletchley Park, innovative technology housed at The University of Manchester has provided a detailed peek beneath the bonnet of the German wartime cipher machine. A deadly weapon The German Enigma machine was integral in providing the Axis powers with […]
President Trump denies it; the rest of the world has signed up to combat it. Climate change and how to tackle it is one of the largest problems we’re facing this century – so much so that the Paris Agreement (a landmark agreement to combat climate change) was drawn up in 2015. Now, Manchester has […]
The University of Manchester has an impressive track record when it comes to computer science. After all, this is where the world’s first stored-program computer, Baby, was created. And in the year that Baby turns 70, our scientists have given birth to yet another marvel of computing. Last week, the one-millionth processor core of this […]
Lightning doesn’t strike twice – unless you happen to be stood in the High Voltage (HV) Lab at The University of Manchester, that is. On Sunday, this institution – officially named the National Grid Power Systems Research Centre – celebrates its Diamond Anniversary. We take a look back at its history and the achievements recorded […]
Picture the scene: a mist (or should that be a UMIST?) hangs low over an old city churchyard. Men and boys are busily digging pits in the earth, in search of the deceased who have lain in rest here for close to a century. In total, they will uncover and move thousands of bodies – but why? Read on to learn more about The University of Manchester’s ghoulish history.
Since its discovery 150 years ago, scientists have heralded Archaeopteryx as the ‘missing link’ in the evolution of dinosaurs to modern birds. A transitional fossil, the species was commonly referred to as Urvogel – meaning “first bird”. But as is so often the case, once something reaches such lofty heights, it’s human nature to want […]
Women of STEM and their achievements often go under the radar. After all, while Alan Turing was breaking the German Enigma, star of the silver screen Hedy Lamarr was taking a holiday from Hollywood and inventing a radio guidance system upon which modern-day Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are based. And while in 2004 Prof Andre Geim […]