Sunday 18 April 2010

In Edinburgh

I'm in Edinburgh for the annual Institute of Physics Nuclear Physics Conference. It's partly an excuse for everyone in the UK nuclear physics community to get together and chew the fat, to discuss latest research, to discuss funding issues and to drink wine. Or beer. I've mostly drunk beer so far. I made the excellent decision to book a seat on a train far in advance. In fact, three seats since my partner and daughter are here too. The train was completely packed, not helped by the lack of flights currently. I was impressed with how well my two-year-old coped with the long journey, though I have learnt that other passengers get somewhat irate when they see you use a nit-comb on your child in public, and tell you that you shouldn't be out spreading lice.

So, the conference has a fun-packed schedule of talks. I'm looking forward to Jim Al-Khalili's talk entitled Is Nuclear Physics Research Sexy? (presumably the answer is simply "yes") and a finding out what some of the students in groups around the country are up to in the parallel sessions. And everything else, of course. But I might find time during my stay to go to Fabhatrix, an excellent hat shop on Grassmarket. When I say might, I think I mean will.

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