Abingdon News No.51

Fourth year physicists discussed the future of the aerospace industry with the All Party Parliamentary Engineering Group at the House of Lords. Students enjoyed lunch and sat alongside lords, MPs, engineers from industry and fellow students to discuss topics including safety systems on aircraft, the environmental impact of air travel, and enticing young people into studying engineering. Lunch with the Lords Physics Research with Imperial College Members of the Physics Factor Research Club visited the Physics Department at Imperial College for the latest review of one of their research projects with Professor Steven Rose of Imperial College and Dr Peter Hatfield of Oxford University. The Matter from Light project has been an exciting collaboration in which the Physics Factor team was given access to data from a novel experiment to find evidence for the Breit-Wheeler effect, first predicted theoretically in 1934 but never yet observed. Wittgenstein - Edmund Society Lecture The Edmund Society (Philosophy and Religion) enjoyed a lecture from Stephen Mulhall, Fellow of New College Oxford and an expert on the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein, an Austrian physicist, turned philosopher is considered by some to be a genius of modern philosophy, bridging the gap between the formality of the 19th century with contemporary modern philosophy. Abingdon sixth formers got the chance to see firsthand an infrared spectrometer in action as part of their A-Level chemistry studies. The once state of the art spectrometer was donated to the school several years ago and is invaluable in showing boys exciting applications of the theory they learn in lessons. IR Spectrometry Abingdon News The first years put their creativity to the test under the expert tuition of Ed Boase of the Young Film Academy. The boys made silent films that told a classic story. The final films were screened in the Amey Theatre and Deputy Head Mr May had the difficult job of deciding the winner. The Oscar went to Shhhhh!, created by Frederick Arnold, Luke Ball, Max Cranstoun, Arlo Hyman, Jonny Noctor, and James Wakefield, which told the story of a librarian very determined to punish pupils who cause disruption in his library. Young Filmakers 5 Abingdon School Open Day Saturday 28 September 9:30am – 12.30pm