First Director of Imperial's Institute for Shock Physics appointed

Professor Steve Rose takes on new role - News

By Danielle Reeves
Thursday 12 February 2009

Professor Steve Rose from Imperial's Department of Physics has been appointed the first Director of the College's Institute for Shock Physics.

The £10 million research institute is dedicated to studying the fundamental science behind shock waves, high velocity collisions and extremes of pressure and heat. Analysing the effect of shock waves on materials is important for a number of scientific subjects, including the effect of meteorite impacts on planets, spacecraft and satellites, and in understanding the high pressure conditions that occur at the core of planets.

Understanding more about the science of shock waves could help scientists predict the results of meteor strikes on the Earth, and on spacecraft

Professor Rose takes up the Director's post having served as the Institute's interim Director since it was established in March last year. It is funded in part by the Atomic Weapons Establishment, although no defence research will be carried out at the Institute.

Professor Rose's first task as Director is to oversee the appointment of three new academics – a professor and two lecturers – to the Institute, as well as the appointment of three postdoctoral research assistants. These new researchers will work alongside 20 new PhD studentships also to be appointed in the coming months, to develop Imperial's research in shock wave physics. In addition, a new MSc course in shock physics is planned at Imperial, with the first intake of students scheduled for autumn 2010.

Commenting on his appointment, Professor Rose said: "I'm looking forward to developing both teaching and research at the Institute which will expand the UK's capabilities in this exciting area of physics."

Laboratories at Imperial are being fitted with new equipment which will enable researchers at the Institute to recreate and analyse very high pressure conditions. These experiments will enable researchers to change materials into new states that are not normally found on earth, and to record how materials respond to these extremes of pressure and heat using a variety of advanced diagnostic techniques.

In addition to work carried out at Imperial, the Institute for Shock Physics has also provided funding for collaborative work at UCL and at Cranfield University. The researchers at UCL will examine how materials change when subjected to extremely high pressures, by squashing them between the two diamonds in a diamond anvil cell. The researchers at Cranfield University will use high speed gas guns to analyse how the structures of materials change when they impact each other at high speed.

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