IOP @ European Science Open Forum 2010

Physics around the world - By Lena on July 9, 2010 at 11:44 am

And so the curtain falls on ESOF 2010 (European Science Open Forum), which ran from 2 to 7 July in beautiful Turin, Italy. Three seminars, hundreds of delegates attending, one press conference and a lot of free merchandise on, this year has been IOP's most significant presence at this European biennial event, which is getting bigger and better at each edition.

Workings began on Saturday 3 July, with the seminar 'Particle physics: does it matter?'. Our key note speakers (Tara Shears, University of Liverpool, Mark Lancaster, University College London, and Michelangelo Mangano, CERN) argued the fundamental importance of research into particle physics as being at the core of momentous scientific discoveries and technological advancement.

The room was bursting at the seams - discovering the origins of the known universe clearly remains a fascinating subject. Our question: 'does it matter?' has definitely answered itself.

Monday was the turn of 'MRI scanners and the impact of the EU Physical Agents (EMF) Directive' (Speakers: Penny Gowland, University of Nottingham, Stephen Keevil, King's College London, and Georges Herbillon, European Commission) - a very specific, but highly topical subject, as the EU Directive threatens to compromise the use of MRI technology in medical diagnosis, with potentially huge repercussions for patients all over Europe. The Alliance for MRI, a European lobby group represented at ESOF by Dr Keevil, is currently putting pressure on the European Commission for a revision of the Directive.

The seminar offered a unique platform for a very real debate taking place at the highest level of European institutions, and IOP was happy to help promote the campaign further at a well-attended press conference the following morning.

IOP's third and final seminar 'Climate prediction models: what's the point?', on Tuesday 6 July (Speakers: Paul Williams, University of Reading, Martin Wattenbach, Freie Universitat Berlin, and Jane Desbarats, Institute of European Environmental Policy) was by far the most controversial.

Our speakers lucidly presented the scientific evidence showing the man-made effect on the Earth's climate, looking at patterns through history and the rapid rise in temperature since the beginning of the industrialised era, through to the laws of atmospheric physics and finally contemporary European policy attitudes. But when the questions came, some in the audience had interpreted the discussion as an ideological debate in support of climate change. Not what had been discussed by any means. Our speakers jointly responded that their approach to the issue of climate change was scientific - based on research and the gathering of evidence, measuring data collected over time.

It was quite awe-inspiring to witness first-hand the ongoing controversy around climate change and the rational, contained answers our speakers offered, in a conference room in Turin on an extremely hot mid-summer day.

Looking forward to ESOF 2012 already. Dublin, here we come!