The York Festival of Ideas continued last night with a physics lecture at St Peter’s.
The lecture, entitled ‘Deep Underground Science at Boulby Mine; the search for Dark Matter and beyond…’ was delivered by Dr Sean Paling of Sheffield University Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Astronomers are convinced there is much more out in space than meets the eye. As well as the stars and galaxies that we can see on a clear night, observations suggest there is much more matter out there that we cannot see. This is known as Dark Matter, the missing mass in the universe.
For more than a decade, UK astrophysicists have been operating experiments in a dedicated facility 1100m below ground at Boulby potash mine near Whitby. The Boulby scientists are trying to be the first to prove (or disprove) the favoured theory that Dark Matter is particles, all around us.
Dr Paling’s lecture gave an overview of the Boulby Deep Underground Science Facility, the Dark Matter search experiments and the new areas of deep underground science that are emerging.
David Morris, organiser of the lecture and Head of Physics, said: “This was a fascinating lecture about the physicists working at the forefront of science in their quest to learn about Dark Matter. We were delighted to again host this lecture in conjunction with the brilliant York Festival of Ideas.”
After the lecture Dr Paling took questions and chatted to guests over a glass of wine.
As part of the St Peter’s School Public Lecture programme as well as the York Festival of Ideas 2013, the lecture was free and open to all. Indeed, no prior expertise in astrophysics or deep underground science was required.