On Wednesday 1st March, academic scholars and college students attended a fabulous lecture led by Dr Haiyao Deng. It focused on glasses - how they form and their properties, and it was an interesting mix of chemistry, physics and even ancient history.
Dr Deng is a lecturer in Condensed Matter and Photonics in the School of Physics and Astronomy in Cardiff University. With energy and enthusiasm, Dr Deng explained how the science surrounding glass has evolved over time, starting with how early civilisations in Mesopotamia managed to create glass (in much the same way we do today, with just sand, soda and lime) and moving on to the properties of obsidian and Libyan Desert glass. He described how quartz and glass can be so different despite their many similarities, and ended with a wonderful message of exploration and discovery, as he discussed the ongoing debates in physics surrounding some of the unexplained properties of glass.