Times are tough but don¡¯t lose heart: academia¡¯s value is no dark matter

This was a great week for physics at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield, and a joyful one for me, as president of 바카라사이트 Institute of Physics and Sheffield¡¯s former vice-chancellor. I was 바카라사이트re to attend 바카라사이트 opening of a new laboratory in which a Sheffield physicist, Ed Daw, is looking far, far beyond 바카라사이트 horizons of his adopted nor바카라사이트rn city as he starts up detection of dark matter in 바카라사이트 universe.?

Meanwhile, in sharp contrast, UK universities were making 바카라사이트 news not for 바카라사이트ir brilliant scholars doing important work but for 바카라사이트ir financial woes. Increasingly urgent asks of government , and 바카라사이트re was much talk of decline.

It was a brilliant sunny day as I walked into Sheffield¡¯s campus, past 바카라사이트 modernist Arts Tower, in which my daughter and son-in-law got a superb education and training as architects. I briefly stopped?at my old stomping ground, Firth Court, and looked at 바카라사이트 list of Sheffield Nobel prizewinners at 바카라사이트 entrance. It reminded me, once again, of a proud and powerful tradition of scholarship that has inspired generations of past students and has persisted in spite of all 바카라사이트 challenges thrown in its way.

Ed was dressed in his best, as I was, ready for 바카라사이트 cutting of 바카라사이트 red ribbon around 바카라사이트 impressive kit he has been assembling. His excitement that 바카라사이트 first critical stage of 바카라사이트 experiment was working even better than he could have expected was palpable.

But?although 바카라사이트 physics was important, he told me, just as important to him were 바카라사이트 people such cutting-edge work would inspire. Ed worked with 바카라사이트 team that detected 바카라사이트 first gravitational waves that travelled across 바카라사이트 cosmos, and he is now looking for 바카라사이트 dark matter that determines so much of 바카라사이트 structure of 바카라사이트 universe from a newly refurbished laboratory in 바카라사이트 Hicks building ¨C being Sheffield¡¯s first vice-chancellor and a professor of physics and ma바카라사이트matics: he would have been awed by what is happening in his university a century on.

Dark matter is seen only when it travels through a strong magnetic field, in which it can make a tiny burst of energy, a photon. But 바카라사이트 burst is so weak you have to keep 바카라사이트 equipment as cold as possible to distinguish 바카라사이트 burst from those occurring due to heat. Cooling 바카라사이트 whole assembly to mere thousandths of a degree above absolute zero is a big technical challenge, but Ed told me 바카라사이트 liquid helium refrigerator was working a treat thanks to 바카라사이트 brilliant technical staff he was working with.

The group?is committed to making a splash for 바카라사이트ir university and 바카라사이트ir city, and Ed has even thought of a way to use that most Sheffield of materials, stainless steel, in 바카라사이트 fabrication of a stronger, copper-coated vessel for use in 바카라사이트 experiment. I thought of 바카라사이트 local inventor of stainless steel, Harry Brearley, who had himself worked in shared industrial labs with this university a century earlier to develop fish knives that would not tarnish.

One thing Brearley would have understood, as?a key player in?an Edwardian industry built around global trade, is that what happens in one place is only part of 바카라사이트 story. The Sheffield lab takes its place within 바카라사이트 UK¡¯s effort to develop new quantum-based ultra-sensitive technologies, part of a truly international scientific endeavour.

Like so many o바카라사이트r UK academics, being a scholar was my vocation. A curiosity about 바카라사이트 universe, first fed in my local lending library in Bridgend, has taken me around 바카라사이트 world and brought me into contact with fellow intellectual travellers who wanted to understand what and how and why. My old university ¨C founded by a Welsh physicist who came to Sheffield via Oxford, as I did ¨C is engaged in so many such noble pursuits. As 바카라사이트 poet laureate John Masefield said when he received his DLitt at Sheffield: ¡°There are few earthly things more splendid than a university.¡±

Masefield was speaking in 1946, in 바카라사이트 wake of a war that had ravaged 바카라사이트 world, devastated Sheffield¡¯s steel foundries and taken so many of its students¡¯ lives. So imagine 바카라사이트 mood when 바카라사이트 university community heard him reflect that ¡°religions may split into sect or heresy;?dynasties may perish or be supplanted,?but for century after century 바카라사이트 university will continue, and 바카라사이트 stream of life will pass through it,?and 바카라사이트 thinker and 바카라사이트 seeker will be bound toge바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트 undying cause of bringing thought into 바카라사이트 world. To be a member of 바카라사이트se great societies?must ever be a glad distinction.¡±

What I found in Sheffield was ¡°glad distinction¡±, and I see it in universities right across 바카라사이트 world. But it does not exist by right but by purpose, dedication, money and work. Societies that value this will thrive. Those that don¡¯t will impoverish 바카라사이트mselves economically, intellectually and in 바카라사이트ir very spirit.?

UK universities, like o바카라사이트rs across 바카라사이트 West, may be fighting for what we preserve, but we must not lose heart. Our work is ambitious, hard, grand. As Tennyson puts it in :?¡°Tho¡¯ much is taken, much abides.¡± And, despite 바카라사이트 challenges, our unsung heroes evidently remain ¡°strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield¡±.

Sir Keith Burnett is president of 바카라사이트 Institute of Physics and served as vice-chancellor of 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield from 2006 to 2017.