Public Lecture: The Search for Dark Matter at Boulby Mine

Venue: St Peter's School, Shepherd Hall, Clifton, York

Time: 7.00pm until 8.00pm

Guest Speaker: Dr Sean Paling of Sheffield University

Suitable for: Adults and Accompanied Young Children (12yrs+)

As part of the York Festival of Science and Technology, 2010, Dr Sean Paling from Sheffield University Department of Physics and Astronomy has very kindly accepted an invitation extended by St Peter's School to give a public lecture entitled:
"The search for Dark Matter at Boulby Mine." The talk will give an overview of the work carried out by astronomers and particle physicists at Boulby Mine (on the edge of the North York Moors) - searching for the ‘missing mass in the Universe’. All are welcome to attend and no great particle physics or astronomy expertise is needed.
Astronomers are now convinced there is much more out in space than meets the eye.  As well as the stars and galaxies we can see on a clear night, observations show there must also be much more matter out there that we cannot see.  This is known as 'DARK MATTER' - and the race is on to find out exactly what it is.  The UK team working at Boulby mine think Dark Matter may be tiny particles that exist all round us called 'WIMPs'. To try to find these WIMPs Dr Paling and his colleagues are running a number of Dark Matter search experiments over 1km underground at Boulby Mine (Britain deepest mine, 20 minutes north west of Whitby and on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors).  This talk will give an easy introduction to astronomy, the Universe and the search for Dark Matter - followed by a virtual tour of the experiments currently underway.
Dr Sean Paling is a research associate at the University of Sheffield and the manager and science coordinator for the Boulby Underground Science facility.

Public car parking is available on the main campus which you can access via Bootham.  The venue, Shepherd Hall is situated in a traffic free zone (Disabled Access Only).  Kindly park your vehicle at St Peter's and take the footpath signposted Jelbert Way (150 yards) direct to the Hall.

Please Book.  Free Admission.  Light refreshments will be provided

To reserve tickets contact Charlotte Cranfield

St Peter's School

E c.cranfield@st-peters.york.sch.uk

T 01904 527300

For further information on the Festival highlights contact the York Science & Technology Festival Hotline T 01904 870059