Report on the 1994 Annual British Association Meeting, Loughborough
by David N. Barnett
At 4 p.m. on Sunday, 4th September, my taxi drew up alongside the cunningly named Towers Hall, on the Loughborough University campus. After picking up my keys and meal tickets which were ready and waiting for me, I made my way up to my room on the sixteenth floor, praying I would not find out the truth or otherwise of the statement that the building shook in strong winds. A glance through the festival brochure revealed that there would be no shortage of things to do in the coming week and so, after unpacking, it was with a sense of anticipation that I made my way downstairs for my first meal, during which I met seven other scholarship holders, mostly in the same position as me, and all very friendly. After a visit to the Towers bar that evening, we retired to our rooms, arranging to meet at the lectures the following day.
The first series of lectures was entitled "Forces in the world around us", a set of physics lectures focussing both on the use of massive astronomical objects as gravitational lenses to view extremely distant objects and on modern particle physics. The half-time coffee break allowed not only time for refreshment but also an opportunity to view the one of the three science displays on campus which was set up in the same building. A drugs debate followed the lunchtime sandwich. The debate took the format of two initial talks addressing the attitudes of the Swedish and British governments and public towards drug use and abuse, followed by an audience discussion, during which many interesting and varied viewpoints were expressed. The organised activities for the day concluded with the physics and mathematics cheese and wine party, a chance to meet many festival attenders, in addition to sampling the wine, cheese and inexhaustible crackers.
Tuesday started a little early for my liking, but it was well worth getting up in time to see the fascinating and varied morning physics lectures. These covered subjects as diverse as the continued exponential growth in hi-tech computer speed, the use of scanning tunnelling microscopy (particularly in conquering the age-old problem of being unable to transcribe the Bible onto a pinhead) and the enhancement of colour astronomical photographs to reveal faint details, but all came under the heading of "Images in the world around us".
Lunchtime was spent attending the first of a series of talks organised by the BA student section, entitled "Bubbles, boomerangs and (of course) beer". This consisted of students talking on areas of their own interest, budding lecturers having been told; "If you are passionate about your subject, then turn up and ask…" Hence the lectures were again extremely varied, including "Why virtual reality is rubbish" and a talk on the use of tethered satellites, powered by towing a stretched wire through the Earth's magnetic field, thus generating an electric current.
The afternoon activity was the British Gas "Flames Roadshow", a demonstration of the various fascinating and dangerous things which may be done with burners of various shapes and sizes, and methane-filled balloons, and of how a simple flame may be made to travel supersonically. In addition to the 'fun' aspect, this was most informative, and presented in a clear and interesting manner.
The physics section dinner took place that evening. Held on a steam train, travelling from Loughborough Central to Leicester North and back, on the local Great Central Railway, Britain's only preserved main line, this was an extremely enjoyable and unusual event. The five-course meal included a break during which there was an opportunity to visit the searingly hot engine itself, and consult with the driver on important matters such as how much coal was needed to make the engine explode. The excellent wine had perhaps started to take effect by the time the cheese course was reached, and while the waiter off-loaded the remaining gargantuan amounts of cheese onto our table together with the 'ornamental' grapes and celery, a glass of port seemed fitting to complete the somewhat Victorian atmosphere. The only downer was our inability to scrounge extra after dinner mints, despite the excellent and subtle line; "Aren't we good, only taking one mint each?"
The physics/mathematics lectures the following morning were again fascinating, including looks at the science of chaos, and also quantum cryptography; the marriage of modern physics with the science of making unbreakable codes for intelligence use. A tour of the computing department was organised for the afternoon, during which there was the chance to try virtual reality, and the demonstration of the genuine use of electronic mail on the departmental computers; On becoming separated from the rest of our party, typing "Have you seen six physicists wandering around?" onto one of the terminals yielded the reply "We are them", from the very people we had lost elsewhere in the building. The day was unusually concluded by the BA student section treasure hunt, during which certain people, who shall remain nameless, were put under citizen's arrest by the security guards for "breaking and entering" in an attempt to answer one of the questions, asking for the number of rooms in one of the halls of residence. They did not win and (no, it wasn't us) neither did we.
Thursday's opening lecture was an extremely informative talk on the workings of compact discs, interesting particularly because the objects themselves are so familiar in everyday life. A break from the physics at a quarter to ten yielded the talk "What is life?", a very interesting talk addressing the principal differences between living objects and inanimate ones. Returning to physics, the morning lectures concluded with ones on liquid crystals and their present and potential uses, and holography.
"To planet Earth, with love from chemistry" opened the afternoon events, and although principally a children's lecture, was most enjoyable, delivering all the "crystal castles, tornadoes in a bottle, rockets and exciting molecules" promised by the brochure, and was followed by an opportunity to buy some particularly interesting gadgets, including 'light sticks' and luminescent badges. The day's lectures were concluded by those organised by the mathematics department, mainly on computer-aided design, with a little on chaos thrown in. A visit to the hands-on exhibits in the P.E. centre was a fitting end to the day, the fascinating exhibits including a stream of water which 'flowed uphill', giant bubbles and a display about the new group of chemicals called the fullerenes. The exhibits were both informative and fun, and were all presented by people clearly knowledgeable in their respective fields. The Towers bar was then, again, the destination, for a quick game of 'Round the Clock' on the rickety dartboard before retiring to Towers.
Friday dawned, and with it came the BA breakfast 'egg race', aptly named, as the task this time was, using the materials provided (unfortunately only uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows), to build a free-standing egg-cup to support a hard-boiled egg as far above the table-top as possible, for at least thirty seconds. Various different shaped structures emerged, which possessed varying degrees of stability, but of these, one was the clear winner, the winning team receiving copious applause, while the audience finished the remains of the free Danish pastries and bucks fizz. In addition to the enjoyment factor, the event was an opportunity to meet celebrities including (well, only) Kate Bellingham of Radio 5 and the famous 'Bryson' from the Royal Institution, over whom, allegedly, several girls were seen to swoon.
The lecture to attend that morning was undoubtedly "Are plants intelligent?" which attracted subsequent media attention the like of which I have never seen. Following demonstration of how plants sense gravity, measure time, count and even have sophisticated colour vision, and the merciless shooting of a plant with a hand gun (apparently a method of carrying out genetic engineering), the disappointing answer was no; Plants are simply "pre-programmed zombies".
Unfortunately, the lectures ended at lunchtime, some twenty-four hours before I was due to return home, and so the problem of making my own entertainment reared its head. Fortunately, we found a snooker table in one of the halls, and so once the keys to the snooker room had been located, the spare time (between running those who had cunningly decided to leave on the Friday to the station) was most enjoyably spent.
Come evening, the campus had practically emptied, but fortunately, the three remaining members of our once eight-strong group managed to find some of the committee members of the BA student section; the only other remaining living souls in Loughborough, and so the evening was thus most enjoyably spent with them, including some time in the Student Union bar, a trip to the cinema and finally a small party in one of our rooms. However, this did not go on until all hours like some of the previous nights' gatherings, as we all had long journeys the following day.
The next morning, only myself and one other student remained and so the week ended with him dropping me off at the station, and us resolving to meet again at Cambridge.
The week was highly enjoyable in every respect, both academically and socially, and allowed opportunities to meet not only eminent speakers, but also many students in the same situation as myself, several of whom I hope to see again in the near future, particularly those who are going to the same university as me. The lectures were highly informative and interesting, all given by experts in their fields and the exhibitions were fascinating and well laid out. All the organisers and student helpers were most helpful and all, including the other festival visitors, were very friendly. All in all, the whole week was time very well spent, and I hope to do the same again in Newcastle next year.
September 1994