Faculty of Science

Today was kind of quiet for everyone who didn’t go the optional visit of Buckingham palace. However, the specialist lecture I had this morning was one of the best at LIYSF. Roma Grewal was a head engineer on the design of the Shard: Western Europe’s tallest building: http://www.theviewfromtheshard.com/en/ The unusual 306m structure is composed of 11,000 … Read more

So as usual, the aftermath of late socializing blended with strong mochaccino and a tight schedule set the stage for our early trip to Hampton Court Palace. In hindsight, I was not prepared for the magnificence of the tour before us. Arthur from Brazil is a bright physics enthusiast and we started talking about energy … Read more

Wow, Boleslav can eat! We were all touched by the application of new science in the fight against blindness: Besides the graphic surgical images which soured some faces, the lecture communicated the joy of using science to change individual lives. It is profound to me how the technical and seemingly impersonal discipline that is science … Read more

This morning I was treated with one of the best lectures of the forum – Stacy Williams speaking on “Being a Scientist in the Financial Markets”: After starting his education as a physicist, Williams was swept into the mammon sector and soon became respected as a mathematical modelling expert. The nice thing about his presentation … Read more

As you know, I am writing this blog in retrospect and am desperately trying to catch up. This follows directly from LIYSF being so packed with tours, learning, activities, and socializing! Nonetheless, I will never forget this day of LIYSF because it marks my first and possibly last time tour of a Nuclear Fusion facility … Read more

We had a full day of lectures ahead today so I inhaled breakfast and went to hear about applications of graphene. The one-atom-thick sheet of carbon is renowned for it’s remarkable electrical and structural properties. In fact, in 2010 alone, graphene was the subject of 3000 papers and 400 patents! Del Stark showed us the smorgasbord … Read more

We were off to Warwick University early after breakfast:   It was to be another two-hour journey to the university and nearly everyone in the bus fell asleep. The English countryside was just as beautiful as on the Stonehenge tip but not quite so special now: The University of Warwick reminded me of TASC II … Read more

Mindful of all the world’s starving children I took great pains to communicate my desire for less food to the servers at breakfast. Although they are no doubt used to cleaning up dishes half-full of eggs and sausage afterward, they hesitantly agreed to this foreign request. After the regular morning socializing we migrated towards the … Read more

After breakfast we boarded the buses bound for Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral day tours. What they didn’t tell me when I paid the £40 ($70) for the tour is that Stonehenge is a good 2hr drive from Imperial College! However, part of the reason I wanted this trip was to experience the renowned English countryside outside … Read more

Again, I am writing this post two days late but the pictures will guide me! I will try to get in a more regular pattern of blogging because it’s not as easy remembering with so much going on. Anyways, here’s a nice shot of Queen’s tower which welcomed us to the breakfast hall early Saturday … Read more