New group tackles physics communication

Professor Sir William Wakeham, the University of Southampton’s Vice-Chancellor and chair of last year’s RCUK Review into the Health of UK Physics, spoke at the inaugural meeting of the Institute of Physics (IOP)’s new Communicators Group to provoke thought among physics communicators about how best to present physics to the young and the influential.

Repeating themes that emerged in his well-received Review, he urged the communicators to look beyond the “purist’s” view of physics, and to increase the subject’s appeal by revealing how all-pervasive this fundamental discipline is.

While the origins of our universe, dark matter and dark energy, and the number of dimensions in our universe play a key role in winning the favour of some, a focus on sub-disciplines with a more immediately social use will appeal to others.

Professor Wakeham said, “The discipline is incredibly well-respected but we must ask whether it has become too narrow.

“We need all to know that physics is not just dark matter and quarks but is also the means to solving our energy crisis; medical physics has saved hundreds of thousands of lives through the development of technologies like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); and physics is a crucial key to successful commercial R&D, creating the next must-have gadget.

“Physics is just as much the iPod as it is CERN’s Large Hadron Collider.”

The new Physics Communicators Group will provide a forum to share best practice amongst the plethora of organisations and individuals interested in letting everyone know the wonder of physics.

Professor Averil Macdonald, Professor of Science Communication at the University of Reading and Chair of the new Group, said, “The Physics Communicators Group brings together people who are passionate about their subject and who want to share with the public the fascination they feel for the subject as well as news of all the opportunities that physics can offer.”