|
| |
| |
 |
| |
| Science
& Technology in UK |
|
The UK has an
outstanding record of scientific achievement
– with just 1% of the world's population
the country undertakes 4.5% of the world’s
research, produces 9% of the world's scientific
papers and receives 11% of the world’s
citations for those papers. UK scientists
claim around 10% of internationally recognised
scientific prizes every year. And there are
many more facts and figures to substantiate
UK’s contribution to science and technology.
|
| |
 |
| |
| |
Royal Society
Records |
|
|
| |
A look at the annals
of the Royal Society gives one a good
overview of the range of fields and
disciplines in which the UK has excelled.
This acclaimed, venerable independent
scientific academy of the United Kingdom,
dedicated to promoting excellence in
science, counts among its past Fellows
some of the greatest scientists the
world has seen: |
|
|
| |
 |
Sir Isaac
Newton (1642–1727),
the genius who showed by his |
| |
theory of gravitation
that the universe was regulated
by simple mathematical laws; demonstrated
that white light could be separated
into a sequence of coloured components
forming the visible spectrum;
and used the calculus to investigate
forces of nature in a quantitative
way. Newton was the first person
to be knighted for services to
science, in 1705. |
|
|
Charles
Darwin (1809–1882),
the pioneering biologist who |
| |
overturned notions
of the origin of man with his
theory of evolution. He spent
almost twenty years building up
evidence for his theory before
publishing it in The Origin of
Species. |
|
|
Lord Rutherford
(1871–1937), physicist extraordinaire,
who |
| |
in 1911 announced
his theory of the atom, and in
1918 succeeded in splitting the
atom, preparing the way for future
nuclear research. |
|
|
Dorothy
Hodgkin (1910–1994),
awarded the Nobel Prize |
| |
for Chemistry
in 1964 for ‘determinations
by X-ray techniques of the structures
of important biochemical substances’. |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Some Recent
Achievements |
|
|
| |
|
2004
Sir Michael Atiyah is awarded
Abel Prize for mathematics, |
| |
with the Atiyah-Singer
theorem being declared ‘one
of the great landmarks of 20th
Century mathematics’. |
|
|
2004
Sir Timothy Berners-Lee, the inventor
of the |
| |
World Wide Web,
is knighted. |
|
|
2003
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who contributed
to the opening up |
| |
of a new branch
of astrophysics by her involvement
in the discovery of pulsars, is
elected Fellow of the Royal Society.
|
|
|
2003
Sir Peter Mansfied is awarded
Nobel Prize in Medicine |
| |
for ‘discoveries
concerning magnetic resonance
imaging’. |
|
|
2003
Sir Anthony Leggett is awarded
Nobel Prize in Physics |
| |
for his ‘pioneering
contributions to the theory of
superconductors and superfluids’.
|
|
|
2001
Richard Dawkins, one of the most
prominent living |
| |
biologists, is
elected Fellow of the Royal Society;
as an ethologist, with a principal
interest in animal behavior and
its relation to natural selection,
he popularized the idea that the
gene is the principal unit of
selection in evolution. |
|
|
2001
Dr Tim Hunt and Sir Paul Nurse
jointly awarded Nobel |
| |
Prize in Medicine
for ‘discoveries of key
regulators of the cell cycle’.
|
As the chronology above shows, the UK
has garnered four Nobel Prizes in as
many years. For more information on
the UK’s stupendous achievements
in S&T visit xxxxxxxxxxxx
[insert URL] |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
Innovation |
|
|
| |
An S&T sector where
the UK’s innovativeness is amply
demonstrated is the sports technology
field. From devising remarkable sportswear
such as a garment that helps boost athletic
performance by training breathing muscles
(RespiVest), to using ‘finite
element’ technology to design
soccer balls with better performance,
to developing ‘Sustainable Sports
Surfaces’ that minimize the risk
of damage to both performers and the
surface, to manufacturing state-of-the-art
heated training devices for a variety
of sports and therapeutic applications,
the UK has applied S&T to every
conceivable area in sports.
Some important innovations devised
in the UK in sports technology are
described below: |
| |
|
| |
Hawk-eye
|
|
|
| |
 |
This
first hit TV screens in 2001 and
has been helping to unravel the
mysteries of the LBW decision
ever since. Invented by Dr Paul
Hawkins, a former Buckinghamshire
player and a doctorate in artificial
intelligence, Hawkeye uses technology
originally used for brain surgery
and missile tracking.
It uses six specially placed cameras
around the ground to track the
path of the ball, from when it
was released |
|
| |
from the bowler's hand
right up until when it's dead. The images
captured by the camera are then turned
into a 3D image by a special computer
to show how the ball will travel on
an imaginary cricket pitch. It's so
good it can track any types of bounce,
spin, swing and seam. And it’s
about 99.99% accurate too. So you can
see on the TV whether the ball would
have gone on to hit or miss the stumps
on an LBW decision.
Hawk-eye has a couple of other useful
features.
Because of the six cameras tracking
the ball, Hawkeye picks up the exact
spot where the ball pitches.
It can also create a "grouping"
on a pitch to show exactly where a bowler
has bowled to a batsman.
Hawkeye also measures the speed of the
ball from the bowler's hand, so it will
tell you exactly how much time the batsman
has to react to a ball. |
| |
|
| |
Wimbledon
International Hockey Grass |
|
|
| |
Using its years of vast
experience, Wimbledon, in conjunction
with Tapex, the world's leading supplier
of synthetic yarns and RLA Polymer,
has developed the world's latest synthetic
grass international hockey field. Approved
by the International Hockey Federation
(FIH), Wimbledon International Hockey
Grass is a 12mm knit de knit (KDK) twisted
nondirectional polypropylene grass made
with a special water resistant latex
backing, representing a huge leap in
the technology used to create synthetic
grass surfaces of hockey fields.
http://www.wimbledongrass.com.au/html/hockey.html
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
