People doing Physics – Détails, épisodes et analyse

The team is taking a short break this summer and will be back in September with a plethora of new guests. To help you wait, we’ve selected a couple of previous episodes we wanted to share again with you.

This month, we go back to the Ray Dolby Centre for a tour of what was, at the time of recording in January 2023, still very much a building site. A year and a bit later, the newest home of the Cavendish Laboratory is now completed and we’re gearing up for the migration of 1,100 staff and students, along with research and teaching labs, scientific equipment, and technical instruments.

Let’s jump back in with our guest Andy Parker, who was the Head of the Cavendish at the time, for a wander around the new building and a fantastic chat about inventions, reinventions, and the future of physics.

We hope you’ll like it and if you do, don’t forget to rate the episode or to leave us a review on your favourite podcast app!

Episode 13: A tour of the Cavendish's new home with Andy Parker

This is episode 13 of People Doing Physics, the podcast from the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. This month marks our first birthday! One year, 12 guests, each one looking into their very own journey and connection with Physics.  

For this special anniversary episode, we’ve asked the head of the Cavendish Laboratory, Professor Andy Parker to take us to a building site. Not any building site though. The one, just across the road from the department’s current location, where the newest home for the Cavendish Laboratory will open in 2024.  

A Professor of High Energy Physics, Andy joined the Cavendish as a lecturer in 1989. He served as Deputy Head of Department for 3 years before becoming Head of Department in 2013.  

Who better than Andy then, who has overseen this immense project for the best part of the past 10 years, to show us around and talk about what the new building means for the future of physics in Cambridge and nationally?  

With him we wandered and we roamed and we talked: about particle physics, ever bigger underground tunnels, and a lost spring on the carpet.  

• Learn more about the Ray Dolby Centre and about the relationship between Ray Dolby at the Cavendish.
• Explore the world of CERN, the Large Hadron Collider and the ATLAS inner detector.
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to www.phy.cam.ac.uk 

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Jacob Butler and Vanessa Bismuth
• Recording and

Hello dear listeners. The team of People doing Physics is taking a short break this summer and will be back in September with new guests and more physics chats. To help you wait, we’ve selected a couple of previous episodes we wanted to share again with you.

We start with our panel episode with three Undergraduate students, which comes out just as we are about to welcome once again hundreds of potential new students for the University of Cambridge Open Days.

This episode was recorded in June 2023, with Misha de Fockert and Armaan Shaikh, who were just finishing their 2nd year, and Ming-Shau Liu, who had just graduated from Cambridge after his 4th year.

We’ll leave you with them and their very open and unfiltered views on their time and experience of studying physics at Cambridge.

We hope you enjoy it, and if you do, don’t forget to rate it or leave a review on your favourite podcast app!

Episode 18: An open conversation with physics students, Misha de Fockert, Ming-Shau Liu and Armaan Shaikh

This is July and the streets of Cambridge burst with sun and excitement as students let a communal sigh of relief now that the academic year is over. This is July, and the time for future students to think about what subject they might be studying when choosing to go to university.  

As we are welcoming hundreds of potential new students today and tomorrow for the University of Cambridge Open Days, we have invited three of our current undergraduate students to join us in the studio and talk to us, honestly and without filters, about their experience at Cambridge. Hearing directly from them may help young people thinking about studying physics in Cambridge or anywhere else, to take the leap.  

Misha de Fockert and Armaan Shaikh have just finished their 2nd year – here in Cambridge we call it Part IB, and Ming-Shau Liu is graduating from Cambridge after his 4th year, which, not confusingly at all, is called Part 3! 

All three of them, and this is just a coincidence, are students at Homerton College. With them today we talk about taking the time to reflect, imposter syndrome, building bridges and making friends for life.  

• If you are thinking about applying to Cambridge, visit the Undergraduate Study website.
• Isaac Physics offer free support and activities in physics problem solving to teachers and students transitioning from GCSE (Y11), through to Sixth Form (Y12 & 13), to university. For direct support, you can also sign up to the Isaac Physics mentoring scheme.
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to the Cavendish website.

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on X/Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

Episode credits

Hosts: Vanessa Bismuth and Jacob Butler

Recording and Editing: Chris Brock

Long silver hair in a ponytail, a pair of Converse All Star and a Grateful Dead t-shirt… The guest sitting opposite us today in the studio is not your average Cambridge academic. 

But don't be fooled by his relaxed demeanour; Professor Mete Atatüre is a serious trailblazer in his field. Co-founder of the Atomic, Mesoscopic and Optical Physics Group of the Cavendish Laboratory, his ground-breaking work in quantum optics and solid-state physics has earned him accolades and respect worldwide. His experimental research group investigates light-based quantum science to enable future quantum information networks and communication, as well as new applications in sensing and magnetometry.

He is an elected Fellow of the Optical Society of America, the Turkish National Science Academy, the Institute of Physics… and one of Turkish GQ Magazine’s Men of the Year 2015, amongst international actors and footballers and in recognition of his pioneering research in quantum physics! In 2018, he co-founded the successful quantum startup Nu-Quantum, and now he is looking forward to being Head of Department here at the Cavendish…

His research is driven by an insatiable curiosity and motivated by a desire to see what has never been seen before, which, in the world of quantum optics, is no mean feat!

Together with Mete, we talk about striking luck and grasping every opportunity, doing things outside of the clichés and the power of enthusiasm and curiosity to persevere through the times of pressure and failure. 

• Explore Mete's research on quantum optics on the Quantum Cambridge website.
• Learn more about his startup Nu-Quantum, Pioneering Quantum Networks
• Follow Mete on Instagram or Twitter/X
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to the Cavendish website.

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Simone Eizagirre Barker and Vanessa Bismuth
• Recording and Editing: Chris Brock

Help us get better by taking our quick survey! Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you for your time.

Here’s a question for you dear listener. What’s the link between music and physics? What is the sound of physics? Today we're diving into a fascinating world where art, science, and music intersect. Joining us in our studio are two incredible individuals who have embarked on a journey that brings together the realms of sound, physics, and human emotion.

Ain Bailey is a composer and the second Cavendish Arts Science Fellow. Cavendish Arts Science creates collective encounters between art and science that explore the world, our humanity and our place in the world.

Ain’s practice explores sonic autobiographies and the constellation of sounds that form individual and community identities. Her compositions are often inspired by reflections on silence and absence, feminist activism and architectural acoustics.

Dr Gemma Bale is an assistant professor of Medical Therapeutics at the University of Cambridge, and the head of the Neuro Optics Lab. Sitting at the junction of engineering and physics, her team develops new, non-invasive optical devices to monitor brain metabolism in areas which traditional brain monitoring can’t. Lately, she’s been exploring the relationship between music and dementia, and it was only a matter of time before she and Ain’s worlds collided, and a conversation sparked.  

With Ain and Gemma, we talk about music of course, and how our brains react to it, exploring the unknown and bridging the gap between art and science.

• Ain’s performance ‘The Cavendish: A Tone Poem’ at Girton College (Cambridge) is on Saturday 23rd September at 3pm– Book ahead! She will also perform at Café Oto (London) in November, look out for the date on their website.
• The annual Cavendish Arts Science Fellowship is delivered in partnership with Girton College, thanks to the vision and generous support of Una Ryan. Cavendish Arts Science will soon announce their new Fellow for 2023/24, stay tuned!
• Explore Gemma’s research on her Neuro Optics Lab website
• See and hear more of Ain’s work on AIN BAILEY (tumblr.com)
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to the Cavendish website.

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Simone Eizagirre Barker and Vanessa Bismuth
• Recording and Editing: Chris...

The team is taking a short break and will be back in September with new guests and more physics chats. Stay tuned!

While you wait, why not taking 2 minutes to answer a few questions about the podcast and help us get better?

People Doing Physics is a podcast produced by the Cavendish Laboratory, the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge.

Visit the Cavendish website and learn more abour our research and teaching, and how you could get involved!

• If you like this podcast, don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

Help us get better by taking our quick survey! Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you.

This is July and the streets of Cambridge burst with sun and excitement as students let a communal sigh of relief now that the academic year is over. This is July, and the time for future students to think about what subject they might be studying when choosing to go to university.  

As we are welcoming hundreds of potential new students today and tomorrow for the University of Cambridge Open Days, we have invited three of our current undergraduate students to join us in the studio and talk to us, honestly and without filters, about their experience at Cambridge. Hearing directly from them may help young people thinking about studying physics in Cambridge or anywhere else, to take the leap.  

Misha de Fockert and Armaan Shaikh have just finished their 2nd year – here in Cambridge we call it Part IB, and Ming-Shau Liu is graduating from Cambridge after his 4th year, which, not confusingly at all, is called Part 3! 

All three of them, and this is just a coincidence, are students at Homerton College.   With them today we talk about taking the time to reflect, imposter syndrome, building bridges and making friends for life.  

• if you are thinking about applying to Cambridge, visit the Undergraduate Study website.
• Isaac Physics offer free support and activities in physics problem solving to teachers and students transitioning from GCSE (Y11), through to Sixth Form (Y12 & 13), to university. For direct support, you can also sign up to the Isaac Physics mentoring scheme.
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to the Cavendish website.

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

Hosts: Vanessa Bismuth and Jacob Butler

Recording and Editing: Chris Brock

On 16th June, the Cavendish Laboratory will be celebrating its 149th anniversary! To mark this occasion, we wanted to replay one of our previous episodes with one of our longest standing member of staff, Malcolm Longair. Malcolm is the memory of the Department, and his stories are fascinating, so let's jump back in with Simone, Jacob and our guest. We hope you enjoy!

If you like this episode, don’t forget to rate it or leave a review on your favourite podcast app.

With us this month is Prof. Malcolm Longair, CBE, FRS, FRSE (and Munroist). Born in Dundee, in 1941, Malcolm studied Electronic Physics at what is now the University of Dundee, but was then part of St Andrews. After this, he came down south to the Cavendish, where he completed his PhD as part of the Radio Astronomy Group, supervised by Martin Ryle. Specialising in high energy astrophysics and astrophysical cosmology, Malcolm has since been a Royal Society Exchange Visitor to the USSR; held visiting professorships at prestigious institutions around the world; been the Astronomy Royal for Scotland; Cambridge’s Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy; Deputy Head and Head of the Cavendish Laboratory. He has contributed to international scientific bodies, such as NASA and ESA, and found the time to publish 22 books, over 300 scientific papers, and give hundreds of public lectures.

Most recently, he has been Director of Development for the Cavendish Laboratory. In this role, he has helped modernise the Cavendish Laboratory, with the building of the Physics of Medicine building and Maxwell Centre, and the soon-to-be completed Ray Dolby Centre which will house most of the upcoming National Facility for Physics.

Today, we will be talking about Malcolm’s path into Physics, what over half a century of working at the cutting edge of science has taught him, and where he sees the Cavendish laboratory going in the future. 

[00:36] – Guest’s intro

[02:39] – Starting out in Physics 

[05:08] – Time at Cambridge doing PhD

[06:00] – 1960’s, the revolutionary decade of Astronomy

[08:00] – Time in Moscow 1968/1969 and change of attitude towards understanding science

[10:35] – Joining back at Cambridge as an Assistant Professor

[11:12] – Understanding in Physics continues to develop

[11:37] – Involvement with various organisations and evolving from research focused role to managing the big picture

[12:06] – Experience with SRC and becoming Astronomer Royal for Scotland

[13:55] – Interdisciplinary Scientist for Hubble Space Telescope (1977) and learning how to get big projects operating

[15:40] – Guidance to scientists looking at working in policy and related fields

[17:00] – Important things for scientists to think about for fundings and funding proposals

[20:49] – In the news this month we focus on how artificial intelligence is helping to speed up the discovery of new materials. Atoms are the basic building blocks of every material. Combining different types of atoms naturally leads to different materials. However, it is not just the types of atoms that determine material properties, but also their arrangement.

[24:37] – Moving back to Cavendish as Professor and Head of the Department, and rebuilding Cavendish Laboratory

[27:50] – Sequence of new Cavendish buildings and facilities to support different research areas (such as Physics of Medicine, Astrophysics and more)

[31:58] – Future vision essential for Cavendish 

[33:02] – Key takeaways, suggestions for early science researchers /...

Help us get better by taking our quick survey! Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you for your time.

Today we're joined by two physicists who have not only distinguished themselves in the sciences but risen to the top of their sporting fields as well. Louise Shanahan is a PhD student in the Atomic Mesoscopic and Optical Physics group, as part of the Winton programme for the physics of sustainability here at the Cavendish. Siting at the borders of physics and biochemistry, her work looks at nano diamonds and there use in measuring cells properties. Alongside this, she has found time to excel in middle distance running, becoming European youth Champion, Irish champion and representing Ireland in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Noam Mouelle is a PhD student with the high Energy Physics Group, part of the National Atom Interferometry Observatory and Network, using Ultra Cold Atom Technologies to investigate dark matter. In his sporting life, he's won several French national junior titles in rowing, competed in the Junior World Championships, and was one of the rowers in the 2023 Cambridge men's team who won the famous Oxford Cambridge Boat Race last March. They talk to us today about balancing training and study, the benefits and downsides their lifestyle brings and what they get up to when they're not out on the track or river.

[00:40] Guests intro

[01:40] What brought you to physics?

[03:08] Working at a similar scale but looking at very different things

[06:50] A PhD as a natural progression from undergraduate studies

[09:07] A typical day balancing studies and sports

[12:23] To say or not to say, a different approach to disclosing a sporting carreer to their supervisors

[16:44] Why running, why rowing? And how it helps in physics (and vice versa)

[23:36] Qualifying for the Olympics - a long term ambition

[26:30] Coming to Cambridge to study AND win the boat race

[29:22] So, what's next?

[34:30] Outro

• Learn more about Louise's AMOP group and Noam's AOIN work
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to www.phy.cam.ac.uk

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

• Hosts: Simone Eizagirre Barker and Jacob Butler
• Recording and Editing: Chris Brock

Help us get better by taking our quick survey! Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you for your time.

We are very excited to present a very special episode this month. The podcast has been recorded with a live audience in the Pippard lecture theatre during the Cavendish Festival. For this special episode, we’re joined by Professor Athene Donald, Emeritus of Experimental Physics at the Cavendish and Master of Churchill College Cambridge. Athene has had an illustrious research career in soft matter physics for which she has received numerous accolades, including the Royal Society Bakerian Medal, the L'Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Award, the Institute of Physics' Faraday Medal, and ten honorary doctorates. She is also a strong advocate for women in science and has chaired numerous diversity and gender equality initiatives that seek to improve the representation and career progression of women in STEM.

[00:48] – Guest’s intro

[03:29] – Inspiration to do science and physics

[06:41] – Experience of studying natural sciences at Girton College and overcoming initial difficulties in studying physics

[14:15] – Keeping motivated during the research

[16:48] – Moving to Cornell for post doc and culture shock

[18:18] – Coming back to Cambridge and work in soft matter physics

[19:50] – Studying Mechanical properties of snack foods and using techniques like small angle X-ray scattering

[23:00] – Inspiration behind advocacy of women in science and the book release - Not just for the Boys

[26:33] – Diversity is good for science  

[28:05] – Decision on joining Churchill College as Master

[30:32] – Blogging and the book – Not just for the boys

[31:35] – Outreach and policy work

[34:00] – Tackling generalised statements about women and girls in science

[37:02] – Advocacy work and hope for future 

[38:05] – Outro

• Learn more about Professor Dame Athene Donald  and her research group Biological and Soft Systems.
• During the episode Athene discusses her  Blog and forthcoming book  - Not Just for the Boys.  
• To learn more about the Cavendish Laboratory, or if you are interested in joining us or studying with us, go to www.phy.cam.ac.uk 

• If you like this episode don’t forget to rate it and leave a review on your favourite podcast app. It really helps others to find us.
• Any comment about the podcast or question you would like to ask our physicists, email us at [email protected] or join the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #PeopleDoingPhysics.

Help us get better by taking our quick survey! Your feedback will help us understand how we can improve in the future. Thank you for your time.

Joining us this month is Dr Sandro Tacchella, Assistant Professor in Extragalactic Astrophysics at the Cavendish and the nearby Kavli Institute for Cosmology. Inspired by astronomy at a young age, Sandro pursued a degree in Physics and threaded a line between the “small” scale of planetary astrophysics and the statistical world of pure cosmology. He looks at the physics underpinning the formation of galaxies and black holes, hoping to understand how these cosmic structures came to be using data from some of the most advanced telescopes on, and above, Earth. His experience of using analytical and cosmological models to determine the physical properties of galaxies is being brought to bear on data from the recently activated James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam instrument, and he plays a key role in projects aimed at characterising the earliest galaxies.

His research has taken him around the world, from Switzerland to Korea and the US, but he has still found time to start a family and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Today, we’ll talk to him about the benefits and unique problems he faces working in astrophysics, what it has been like to do cutting-edge research on three continents, and where he sees extragalactic astrophysics going in the near future.

[00:36] – Guest’s intro

[01:50] – Dreaming of space through a telescope

[03:57] – Physics degree and outreach events to become a budding astronomer

[05:03] – It's not so easy to do Astrophysics in Switzerland

[06:00] – From broad astrophysics to extragalactic observations

[08:17] – The exquisite images from the Hubble Space Telescope

[10:00] – Why do galaxies look like what they do today? Look at them back in time!

[12:17] – Live podcast announcement with special guest Professor Dame Athene Donald

[13:42] - Starting a family while doing a PhD

[16:35] – What counts when you try to succeed during a PhD are you don't get the support you need from your group?

[20:05] – There is work, and there is family...

[21:05] - Restarting a career at Harvard and working on the James Webb Telescope

[23:15] – From Harvard to Korea to the UK- two kids, a partner, a postdoc, and a pandemic

[26:35] - Analising the date from James Webb Telescope and understanding when the very first galaxies and black holes formed and how they evolved

[31:25] Astrophysics is famous for finding things that nobody was expecting

[33:46] – Outro  

• Join us for a LIVE recording of the Poeple Doing Physics with special guest Professor Dame Athene Donald on Saturday 18th March at 3.30pm. Part of Cambridge event is part of the Cambridge Festival from the University of Cambridge.

Reserve your free spot now!

• Learn more about