Celebrating 50 Years of Kent and Solitons

From 4-6 September, the University will be hosting its 50th year festival. As part of this festival, on 5 September in Keynes Lecture Theatre 2 (KLT2), some of our Maths lecturers will be running a special event on the 50th Anniversary of the Soliton.

Solitons are a unique type of wave and a specialism of many Maths lecturers at Kent. These waves have a rich and fascinating history with many applications, including Tsunamis, Fibre Optics, Superconductors, Photosynthesis and Protein Folding. During our event, we will be playing with the luminous Solitons water tank, experimenting with our 3D printer and looking at
a new model for atomic nuclei.

The event will kick off with a talk by Professor Peter Clarkson on the discovery of solitons, followed by an interactive demonstration in which Lucy Barnes and Argyro Mainou will create fluorescent solitons in a specially designed watertank.

During the coffee break, visitors will have an exciting array of activities to choose from, including hands on experience with a 3D printer and posters showcasing research projects undertaken by local school students in the last month.

After the break, Dr Constanze Roitzheim will introduce us to the fascinating world of Topology and Jenny Ashcroft will create vortex rings using her smoke gun. The day will end with the opportunity to meet up with the speakers at a local pub.

If you would like to see what Maths Lecturers get up to when they’re not teaching, please sign up to the Facebook Event (http://tiny.cc/09h61x or via http://www.kent.ac.uk/smsas/outreach/50th.html ) so that we know you will be attending.

You are most welcome to invite friends and anyone who you think may be interested. Please ask them to sign up to our Facebook event (or via http://www.kent.ac.uk/smsas/outreach/50th.html).