The Stirling Lecture for 2010 is to be given by Graham Farmelo. The lecture is entitled ``Paul Dirac and the religion of mathematical beauty" and will be given in Calman Learning Centre 202, Science Laboratories on Thursday 9th December at 5.15pm. Graham Farmelo is a Bye Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. He edited the best-selling "It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science" in 2002. His biography of Paul Dirac, "The Strangest Man", won the 2009 Costa Biography Prize and the 2010 Los Angeles Times Science Book Prize. Paul Dirac, sometimes called 'the first truly modern theoretical physicist', was obsessed by mathematical beauty. He believed that our fundamental understanding of the universe advanced by theories of successively greater aesthetical appeal, an idea he enshrined in his principle of mathematical beauty, which he regarded as being 'like a religion'. In this talk, Farmelo will look at the early origins of Dirac's obsession with beauty, and the progress...

The Stirling Lecture for 2010 is to be given by Graham Farmelo. The lecture is entitled ``Paul Dirac and the religion of mathematical beauty and will be given in Calman Learning Centre 202, Science Laboratories on Thursday 9th December at 5.15pm. Graham Farmelo is a Bye Fellow at Churchill College, Cambridge. He edited the best-selling It Must be Beautiful: Great Equations of Modern Science in 2002. His biography of Paul Dirac, The Strangest Man, won the 2009 Costa Biography Prize and the 2010 Los Angeles Times Science Book Prize. Paul Dirac, sometimes called 'the first truly modern theoretical physicist', was obsessed by mathematical beauty. He believed that our fundamental understanding of the universe advanced by theories of successively greater aesthetical appeal, an idea he enshrined in his principle of mathematical beauty, which he regarded as being 'like a religion'. In this talk, Farmelo will look at the early origins of Dirac's obsession with beauty, and the progress he...

Ref 0512: Applications are invited for two posts at lecturer or up to reader level, tenable within the Department of Physics, in association with the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP). The successful applicants will have expertise in particle physics phenomenology. Preference will be given to candidates working in the areas of Beyond the Standard Model and Higgs physics.Ref 0514: Applications are invited for the post at lecturer or up to reader level, tenable within the Department of Physics, in association with the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP).The successful applicants will have expertise in any area of particle physics phenomenology.Closing date 6 December 2010. Applicants are formally required to apply through the universities' on-line application system

Since 2009 the Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP) is inviting applications from UK-based academic permanent staff to hold an IPPP Associateship for a year. Each Associateship has a value of £4000 per annum and is funded by Durham University, through the IPPP. The IPPP Associates for 2010-2011 are listed on http://www.ippp.dur.ac.uk/Members/Associates.html The aim of this programme is to support particle physics phenomenology research in the UK. The Associateships will be awarded to individuals or small teams to support their research programme. For example, the funds could be used for visits of the Associate or their students to IPPP, IPPP staff/PDRA/student visits to the Associate's institution, travel of Associate or their students to conferences, visitors to the Associate's institution, partial teaching buy-outs to provide time to collaborate with IPPP staff, etc. The Associateships will be awarded on the basis of scientific excellence bearing in mind the need...

Daniel Maitre will join the IPPP as lecturer, starting on October 1st 2010.

The Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (IPPP) is inviting applications from UK-based academic permanent staff to hold an IPPP Associateship from 1 October 2010. Each Associateship will have a value of £4000 per annum and is funded by Durham University, through the IPPP. The aim of this programme is to support particle physics phenomenology research in the UK. The Associateships will be awarded to individuals or small teams to support their research programme. For example, the funds could be used for visits of the Associate or their students to IPPP, IPPP staff/PDRA/student visits to the Associate's institution, travel of Associate or their students to conferences, visitors to the Associate's institution, partial teaching buy-outs to provide time to collaborate with IPPP staff, etc. The Associateships will be awarded on the basis of scientific excellence bearing in mind the need to balance activity in different areas of phenomenological research including beyond the...

IPPP has hired two new lecturers, Celine Boehm and Thorsten Feldmann who will join the IPPP on 1st January 2011.

The physics paper with the highest percentage increase in citations in 2010 as determined by ScienceWatch.com is `Parton distributions for the LHC' written by IPPP scientist Alan Martin together with his collaborators James Stirling, Robert Thorne and Graeme Watt. ScienceWatch tracked the citations in  Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Thomson Reuters from the first bimonthly period of 2010 to the second bimonthly period of 2010 and identified 1762 `hot' papers.   The hottest paper in the physics category is "Parton distributions for the LHC", Eur.Phys.J.C63:189-285,2009 which now has nearly 200 citations. Parton distributions are an essential ingredient in understanding the physics of the LHC. The IPPP is one of the worlds leading centres for studying the internal structure of the proton and  has been involved in producing parton distributions for the worldwide community since 1987. The latest MSTW 2008 set is determined from global analysis of hard-scattering data from...

Michael Pennington will be leaving the IPPP in June to take up the position of Associate Director for Theoretical and Computational Physics at the Jefferson Lab, Newport News, Virginia, USA. Mike received his PhD in theoretical physics in 1971 from Westfield College, University of London. He joined Durham University in 1978, where he is currently a Professor of Mathematical Sciences & Physics. He has held many leadership positions at the university, including serving as head of the Department of Physics from 1999-2003, chair of the Physics Teaching & Learning Committee from 1999-2001 and chair of the University IT Strategy Working Group from 2007-2008. He has been Dean for Educational Outreach since 2008. Mike's research focus is in the theoretical and phenomenological study of the strong nuclear force, and he has more than 185 publications to his credit. In his outstanding career, Mike also has served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Adelaide from...