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The Attractions of Magnetism: Chips, Cancer and Crime


Speaker:Prof. Russell Cowburn
Affiliation:Department of Physics, University of Cambridge
Date:May 3, 2018 (Thursday)
Time:4:00 p.m.
Venue:Room 522, 5/F, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building, HKU

Abstract
 

Magnetism is a very old subject and it is sometimes thought that there is little left to discover. All of that changes when nanotechnology and magnetism are brought together – without the technologies that have come out of that meeting we wouldn’t have social media, the Cloud or even the Internet.
In this talk I will explain the new physics which is currently emerging from the rapidly changing research field of nanostructured magnetic materials, and how that new physics finds use in computer memory, in novel biomedical technologies and in detecting counterfeit documents and smuggled goods.

Biography
 

Russell Cowburn FRS is a Professor of Experimental Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge. He has research interests in nanotechnology and its application to magnetism, electronics and optics. He couples this with a desire to bring ideas from applied physics through technology to commercialisation. He is the founder of two start-up companies, the inventor of the anti-counterfeiting technology ‘Laser Surface Authentication,’ and has had over 60 patents granted in connection with his research. He is the winner of – among other things – the 2006 Degussa Science to Business Award, and the 2008 Institute of Physics Paterson Medal and Prize. In 2009 his research was recognised by the European Union by the award of a 2.8 million euro ERC Advanced Investigator Grant. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2010.

Coffee and tea will be served 20 minutes prior to the seminar.

Anyone interested is welcome to attend.