Science & Society Lecture Tuesday 4th July 2017
Science & Society Lecture Series - Tuesday 4th July - Material chemistry research and the economic health of the nation - Professor Andrew Harrison, Director of Diamond Light Source, Harwell
Diamond Light Source is the UK’s synchrotron. It works like a giant microscope, harnessing the power of electrons to produce bright light that scientists can use to study anything from fossils to jet engines to viruses and vaccines.
The machine speeds up electrons to near light speeds so that they give off a light 10 billion times brighter than the sun. These bright beams are then directed off into laboratories known as ‘beamlines’. Here, scientists use the light to study a vast range of subject matter, from new medicines and treatments for disease to innovative engineering and cutting-edge technology.
Professor Harrison is the CEO of Diamond Light Source since 2013. Prior to this, he was the Director General of the Institut Laue-Langevin neutron source in Grenoble, France since 2011. He grew up in Keele and graduated from Oxford University with a degree and DPhil in Chemistry. After working as a Royal Society University Research Fellow, he joined Edinburgh University in 1992, becoming Professor of Solid State Chemistry in 2000, and was Founding Director of the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions in 2001 before joining ILL in 2006 as Science Director.
Book a place at https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/events/event/?eventid=84146