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Physics Major Lecture Series

The Rochester Lecture Series

Lectures 2010 - 2023

2023: Dr Richard Bowman

Smart microscopy for everyone with open source hardware
Rochester lecture 2023 image

2022: Prof. Heather Lewandowski

Watching chemical reactions happen one molecule at a time
Image of Prof. Heather Lewandowski and the JILA and Colorado University logos

2019: Prof Jun Ye

Quantum Matter and Atomic Clocks

2018: Prof. Pascale Senellart

Quantum optics with artificial atoms

2017: Prof. Sir Peter Knight FRS

Quantum Technology for a Networked World

2016: Dr John C. Taylor OBE

Using Physics to Change the World - A Personal Story

2015: Prof. Miles Padgett FRS

Ghost Imaging: new approaches to imaging inspired by Quantum Physics

2014: Prof. Ian Walmsley

Building Quantum Machines out of Light

2012: Prof. Alain Aspect

From Einstein to Wheeler: wave particle duality for a single photon

2011: Prof. Jeremy J. Baumberg

Squeezing light into nanometre cages: putting the nano into photonics

Lectures 2005 - 2010

Browse the lecture archive

2008 - 2010

2010: Prof. Michael Charlton

Antimatter: From Imagination to Application - and back

2009: Prof. Wilson Poon

It's a bug's life: a survey of the physics of bacteria

2008: Prof. John Ellis

Gauguin’s questions in particle physics: Where are we coming from? Where are we now? Where are we going?
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2005 - 2007

2007: Prof. Sir John Pendry

A Cloak of Invisibility: Harry Potter Does Electromagnetism

2006: Prof. Sir Arnold Wolfendale FRS

Time: From Harrison's clocks to the possibility of New Physics

2005: Prof. Sir Michael Berry FRS

Making Light of Mathematics
About George Rochester
YearName of lecturer Institution at time of lectureTitle of lecture 
 2004 Dr Monica Grady  Natural History Museum  Cosmic collisions and catastrophes 
 2003 Professor Ed Hinds  Imperial College, London Taming the wild atom 
 2002 Dr Michael Perryman  ESTEC, Netherlands Our galaxy in three dimensions 
 2001 Professor Laurence Krauss Case Western University, USA  Einstein's biggest blunder 
 2000 Professor Tony Hey University of Southampton Feynman, Einstein and quantum computers 
1999 Professor Richard Friend, FRS  Cambridge University Plastic electronics 
 1998 Professor Peter McClintock  Lancaster University  Liquid helium, superfluidity and the dawn of time 
 1997 Professor Roger Cashmore  University of Oxford  From electrons and strange particles to the depths of the proton 
 1996 Professor Norman Ramsey  Harvard University, Cambridge  Atomic clocks and their applications 
 1995 Professor Frank Close  Rutherford Appleton Laboratory  The search for the seeds of the universe 
 1994 Professor Mario Parrinello IBM Zurich  Molecular dynamics simulations in physics and chemistry
 1993 Professor P Day, FRS  Royal Institution of Great Britain  Molecular chemistry as a route to new physics 
 1992 Professor Jack Steinberger  PPE Division, CERN  A personal view of the evolution of particle physics 
 1991 Professor Sir Nevill Mott, FRS  University of Cambridge  Sixty years of physics 
 1990 Professor A W Wolfendale, FRS  Durham University  Cosmic rays and cosmology 
1989 Professor J D Jackson  University of Oxford, and Berkeley, California  Muon catalysis for fusion 
 1988 Professor Sir Denys Wilkinson, FRS University of Sussex  The changing atomic nucleus 
 1987 Professor S K Runcorn, FRS  University of Newcastle upon Tyne  The moon - an enigma 
 1986 Professor M Hart, FRS  University of Manchester  Opportunities in the future with synchrotron radiation 
 1985 Professor M J Rees, FRS  Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge  Will the universe expand forever? 
 1984 Dr Garry Hunt  Centre for Remote Sensing, Imperial College  Remote sensing: current activities and technological demands for the future 
 1983 Professor Sir Bernard Lovell, FRS Jodrell Bank Radio astronomy - the way ahead
 1982 Professor D H Perkins, FRS  University of Oxford  Baryon and lepton conservation - the death of a myth?
 1981 Professor R V Jones, FRS  University of Aberdeen Science and war 
 1980 Professor Sir Hermann Bondi, FRS  Department of Energy, London  Energy 
 1979 Professor P H Fowler, FRS  University of Bristol  Ultra heavy cosmic rays 
 1978 Dr J W White  Institute of Max Von Laue, Paul Langevin, Grenoble  Neutrons - a growth point for European physics, chemistry and biology 
 1977 Professor Sir Fred Hoyle, FRS  Victoria University of Manchester  Interstellar clouds as the site of the origin of life 
 1976 Professor J C Polkinghorne, FRS  University of Cambridge  Elementary particles? 
 1975 Professor J M Ziman, FRS  HH Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol  Is physics finished?