Well, 2007 was an eventful year. Climate change issues have dominated
scientists and politicians alike. Though the arguments are complicated
it is very clear that it is time to act. Fossil-based fuels will run out. We need to develop new sources of power, and use more efficiently those we already
have. Of course it will be Scientists and Engineers
who will be at the forefront of developing the required new
technologies.
As it happens my research
group has been providing theoretical support to Osram-Sylvania in the
development of highly efficient and environmentally friendly lighting
sources. Also, last year I went to France to see the building site of a
$15 billion Fusion Reactor. This is the second largest international
science project, behind only the International Space Station. The idea
is to generate power in the same way as happens in the core of the
Sun. We need to build a machine that will be hotter than the Sun's
core, at 100 million degrees in the centre, and yet be at almost
absolute zero just a few meters away so that the massive
superconducting coils could generate the required magnetic fields to
keep the hot gases confined. Though commercial applications are years
away, scientific researchers are needed here
and now.
Last year was particularly exciting for
me personally. Curtin University has continued its heavy investment in
Science and Engineering and made me an offer to start up an Institute
of Theoretical Physics. We are now
one of the major theoretical physics centres in Australia. I hope
that those of you who are not afraid of tackling the hard problems will
consider further study in physics and contribute to the technological
solutions required in the 21st Century.
My research group in
Antimatter-Matter interactions sponsors an elite double major in
physics and mathematics. Though I am a full-time researcher based at Curtin I
also teach Honours students from UWA and Murdoch. Last year
we had one of the biggest Honours classes in the country. So,
if you are interested in Advanced Computational Quantum Mechanics,
I might see you in a few year's time.
It gives me great pleasure to award this prize, which is Karl
Kruszelnicki's book "It ain't necessarily so...bro", to the best
year-eleven physics student of 2007, ...
mailto: Igor Bray
Igor's homepage