The Institute of Physics lectures Hull Collegiate pupils

Dr Michael Wilson, from The Institute of Physics, visited Hull Collegiate School on Tuesday 20 September, as part of the IOP prestigious lecture tour for schools and colleges.   

Dr Wilson gave a very entertaining lecture about how physicists have developed increasingly sophisticated techniques over the past 100 years to see inside the human body. These techniques use x-ray, radioactive molecules and magnetic fields to produce images of the body which allow doctors to diagnose and treat illness and disease better.  

“This year is the centenary of Marie Curie’s discovery of radium so to mark the event the theme of the lecture is radiation,” said Dr Wilson who is a consultant clinical scientist in the Nuclear Medicine Department of the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Trust.

The lecture involved hands-on demonstrations and the interactive element helped bring the concepts of physics to life for the pupils, especially by showing how the original ideas are still relevant today through x-rays and CT scans.    

Hull Collegiate is the only school in East Yorkshire and Humberside to host the lecture series and shared the event with Year 11 pupils from Hessle High School, King Edward VI Grammar School and The Skegness Grammar School, who were invited join Hull Collegiate School pupils for the day.  

Tom Norris, Physics Teacher and Head of Upper School at Hull Collegiate School, who organised the Institute of Physics visit, said, “It was a real pleasure to be hosting the Schools Lecture Tour this year. The quality of the speakers is always exceptional and the material delivered, although very in-depth and challenging, is pitched at a level that pupils aged 14 to 16 can access.”