Events

Come back here regularly to check what events are coming up and to see if we've got any embarrassing pictures of you from previous events! Photos from previous years are in the archive section.

Jump to: photos, talks or trips.

Upcoming Events

Autumn Term 2009

Tuesday 6th October - Chaos Freshers Bar Crawl - Facebook Event Page
It's the Chaos Freshers Bar Crawl!
Don't be fooled by the name, all Chaos members are welcome regardless of your year of study.
Here's the plan for the night:
8PM - Hiatt Baker
9PM - Roo Bar
10(?)PM - Embargo
Later - Spoons
Even Later - Po Na Na
See you guys there!

Rest of Term plans
Week Number - Event
2 - Coffee morning
3 - Jesters
4 - Ice skating
5 - Poker Night
6 -
7 - General night out somewhere
8 - Bowling
9 - Joint sciences Bar crawl
10 - Phys Quiz
That's the plan for this term, if you have any suggestions or want any more info get in touch with our Events team.

Previous Events

Summer Term 2009

Friday 5th June - Chaos Annual BBQ
A great way to end the year with free food and drink for all, come and meet your new committee and fellow chaos members, it's also open to people outside chaos though so bring your friends!

Black Hole - Events probably still happened

Spring Term 2008

Wednesday 23rd January - Jesters Comedy Club
If you missed it last term, fear not there's another classic trip again for just £2 (£3 non-members)
Thursday 6th March - Physball 08
Tuesday 11th March - Chaos AGM, 1pm in Frank Theatre
Your chance to make suggestions, ask the committee questions and/or stand for a position on next year's committee!
Date TBC - Staff-Student Triathlon, Round 2
The second leg and a chance to even the scores. Probably bowling, more info soon.
Lots more TBC!

Autumn Term 2007

Thursday & Friday of Week 0 - FRESH
Chaos will again be at FRESH this year! Whether you're first or fourth year stop by to join, order a hoody or just pick up some free stuff!
Monday 8th October - Freshers bar crawl
For both Freshers and returners, the Chaos calendar once again starts with the one and only Freshers pubcrawl! 8pm start at Hiatt Baker bar or come along at 8:30pm to the Stark bar
Wednesday 17th October - Jesters Comedy Club
An old favourtie, come along to Jesters at 8pm (£2)
Tuesday 6th November - His & Hers - Poker for the boys & Ann Summers Party for the girls!
O'Neills for poker and Reflex for Ann Summers party, then clubbing in Reflex all together. (FREE!)
Thursday 22nd November - Ice-Skating
Come ice-skating at Bristol Ice Rink at 8:15. Only £4.50 (inc. skate hire)
Tuesday 27th November - Queue jump at Fat Poppadaddys for Chaos members
Arrive before 11pm and bring your Chaos card and you can jump the queue (£3)
Thursday 29th November - Staff-Student Triathlon, Round 1
Staff and students go head to head in a quiz! Enderby room, 5:30pm.
Monday 10th December - Christmas PhysQuiz
Mandela Bar in UBU. 7pm start. Prizes to be won! (£1)

Please note events and dates are subject to change - keep an eye on your email or check back here.

Talks

Upcoming

There aren't any coming up, but make a suggestion to someone who looks likes they might listen.

Past

19/01/09 - Dr Helen Heath (Bristol) on "The physics of icecream"

We tried to get Barham to do it again but he wouldn;t play so we had to settle for Helen instead, she was actually alright
30/04/08 - Prof Mervyn Miles (Bristol) on "Nanotechnology: The Holographic Assembler & The Fast Atomic Force Microscope"

The dream of nanotechnology to assemble and manipulate structures at the nanoscale is being realised through the use of nanotools controlled by the holographic assembler, in which a dynamic hologram generates optical fields which trap micro to nano sized particles. These particles can be assembled into tools which can then operate on structures at the next level down - in resonance with Feynman's original ideas of machines making smaller machines making smaller...

Atomic force microscopy is a major tool of nanotechnology for both characterisation and also potentially the fabrication of nanostructures. However, a major limitation has been the time needed to capture one image or create a nanostructure. Through new ideas in instrument design, we have broken this speed limit and increased the imaging rate by nearly a millions times.

These are two examples of research in the Bristol Nanophysics & Soft Matter Group
27/02/08 - Dr Stephen Dugdale (Bristol) on "Positron Annihilation: From Fermi Surfaces To Nuclear Medicine"

Positrons are the antiparticles of electrons. From its origins at the birth of relativistic quantum mechanics, through its discovery and later exploitation in solid state physics to its deployment in diagnostic medicine, the positron has had an interesting eighty years.

In this talk I will attempt to describe how positrons can be used to look at electrons (albeit by annihilating them!), and how this can provide unique and useful information about the properties that materials have (magnetism, superconductivity, shape-memory behaviour). I will go on to describe the new spectrometer that we operate on the fourth floor, and show the close connections that it has, as an instrument, with a medical Positron Emission Tomography (PET) camera
30/01/08 - Prof Subir Sarkar (Oxford) on "Seeing The Edge Of The Universe"

Humankind has always wondered how far the universe extends - whether it is finite or infinite? This remains one of the central questions of modern cosmology but now we can try to answer it through observations rather than just philosophise about it.

I will trace the evolution of our ideas about this issue through recorded history, dealing en route with the celebrated Olbers "dark sky" paradox for an infinite universe (and its correct resolution), and ending with contemporary studies of the cosmic microwave background - the relic thermal radiation from the Big Bang - which marks the edge of the universe we see today.
16/01/08 - Dr Jonathan Robbins (Bristol Maths Dept) on "Fractions & Knots"

Writing numbers as decimals can make them seem all equally boring. Continued fractions are another way of representing numbers which reveal many of their interesting properties. Continued fractions appear throughout mathematics, including, unexpectedly, in the description of knots.

This talk is intended for those interested in the links between pure mathematics and it's applications. Often, advances in Pure Mathematics that seem irrelevant when discovered can find great applications in applied mathematics or physics many years in the future.
Department colloquia

You may also like to go to some of the department collquia. See the departmental page for more details.