We were honoured to welcome Professor Lindsay Greer, Head of the school of Physical Sciences at the University of Cambridge last week.
This distinguished professor has lectured at a range of well-respected universities, including Harvard, Washington University, University of Vienna and the University of Turin as well as Cambridge. Prof. Greer spoke to our year 12 and 13 science students about the research projects available to undergraduate students at the university. His presentation outlined the development of metallic glasses, metals that have the molecular structure of a glass, highlighting their properties and uses. Prof. Greer demonstrated the properties of one particular metallic glass that retains energy by dropping a metal ball onto initially a metal plate and then the metallic glass. The ball not only bounced higher but for a significantly longer period of time when dropped onto the metallic glass.
His talk included other areas of science, including biology, highlighting the use of oxygen to treat shin wounds and the development of machinery to allow this process to be used by individuals on a wider and more efficient scale.
At the end of the talk students posed questions to the professor who was very impressed by the quality of the questions!
Students have since spoken very positively about the experience and commented that they found Prof. Greer a fantastic speaker and very approachable. A number of students are now considering the option of applying to Cambridge to study Natural Science after this experience, both inspired by his talk and the advantages that study at a university like Cambridge brings.
