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Ian Whittaker

Ian Whittaker

Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University

I completed my PhD in 2010 looking at the interaction of the Sun with the upper atmosphere of Venus. Since then I have held six postdoctoral contracts, covering medical imaging, solar physics, the Earth's radiation belts, lightning in tropical cyclones, X-ray astronomy, and X-ray observations of the Earth's magnetopause.

I currently teach at Nottingham Trent University, where I am responsible for astrophysics lectures, laboratory supervision, tutorials and student projects. I am very strongly interested in space science outreach, encouraging students and the public to take an interest in how our planet interacts with the solar system.

Space Science Series

Privatised Moon landings: the two US missions set to open a new era of commercial lunar exploration

Jan 04, 2024 04:37 am UTC| Business

Two commercial spacecraft are scheduled to launch to the Moon early in 2024 under a Nasa initiative called the Commercial Lunar Payload Service CLPS. This programme is intended to kickstart a commercial transportation...

Space Science Series

Earth has many objects in orbit but definitely only one Moon – despite what some people think

Nov 10, 2023 14:37 pm UTC| Science

Big Brother has always chosen its contestants for entertainment value rather than for intellectual debate. This was recently highlighted in a discussion started on the programme by dental therapist Chantelle, who suggested...

Space Science Series

Nasa's Psyche mission is set for launch – here's how it could unveil the interior secrets of planets

Oct 15, 2023 04:07 am UTC| Science

Its unlikely to be a bad omen, but Nasas mission Psyche is currently due to launch on Friday 13 October. Lifting off at 10.19 EDT on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, it faces a perilous journey and isnt scheduled for arrival...

Space Science Series

Chandrayaan-3: India hopes to land a rover on the Moon for the first time

Aug 22, 2023 04:20 am UTC| Science

On Wednesday August 23, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) mission Chandrayaan-3 will deploy its lander and rover to the surface of the Moon. As the name suggests, this is the third mission in a programme of...

Scientists have started steering lightning with lasers – here's how

Jan 24, 2023 07:36 am UTC| Science

Lightning may look beautiful but every year it kills thousands of people, does huge amounts of damage to buildings and infrastructure, and causes power outages. The only protection we have is lightning rods, which were...

Space Science Series

The UK is about to have its first space launch – but Cornwall is unlikely to become a new Cape Canaveral

Oct 19, 2022 08:52 am UTC| Science

Virgin Orbit, a US company which provides launch services for satellites, has announced that the first orbital space mission from the UK will blast off from Cornwall. The rocket, which will carry nine satellites, along...

Ax-1: why the private mission to the International Space Station is a game changer

Apr 05, 2022 11:57 am UTC| Science

Its not long since billionaires were competing to get to the edge of space. Now, the first set of private citizens are getting ready to take a SpaceX shuttle up to the International Space Station (ISS). Unlike the short...

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Economy

Budget 2024: experts react to the UK government’s last roll of the economic dice ahead of a general election

The spring budget of 2024 was widely seen as a chance for UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to inject some economic optimism into British politics ahead of a general election. Would he or wouldnt he cut income tax? (He wouldnt.)...

From micro to macro, Andrew Leigh’s accessible history covers the economic essentials – and an epic rap battle

Andrew Leighs The Shortest History of Economics is the latest in a series of such histories, mostly focused on particular countries. It begins with a striking mini-history of household lighting, focusing on the amount...

Taxes aren’t just about money – they shape how we think about each other

Taxes raising them, cutting them, creating them are useful political tools in an election year (as Chancellor Jeremy Hunts decision to cut national insurance shows). But they are always pertinent, even if some people...

Interest rates are expected to drop but trying to out-think the market won’t guarantee getting a good deal

With most economists expecting interest rates to start falling later this year, prospective home buyers might be weighing up whether to buy now for fear of strong competition for stock, or waiting until repayments are...

Wendy’s won’t be introducing surge pricing, but it’s nothing new to many industries

The recent controversy over Wendys pricing strategies is a perfect example of how online word-of-mouth can distort marketing communications and create confusion for consumers. Wendys new president and CEO Kirk Tanner...

Politics

3 things to watch for in Russia’s presidential election – other than Putin’s win, that is

Russians will vote in a presidential election from March 15-17, 2024, and are all but guaranteed to hand Vladimir Putin a comfortable victory, paving the way for him to remain in power until at least 2030. While the...

Ireland referendums: what went wrong for the government and why double defeat draws a line under a decade of constitutional reform

Ireland, more than any other EU country, has a long and colourful history of referendums. Another chapter in that history has played out in the form of resounding defeats for two government proposals aimed at modernising...

Artdocfest is a crucial outpost of free expression on Russia’s doorstep

On the day of the funeral of Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putins most prominent opponent, the biggest festival of documentary film in the former Soviet countries opened in Latvia with a minutes silence. Artdocfest Rigas...

A beginner’s guide to the taxes you’ll hear about this election season

National insurance, income tax, VAT, capital gains tax, inheritance tax… its easy to get confused about the many different ways we contribute to the cost of running the country. The budget announcement is the key...

Science

Our survey of the sky is uncovering the secrets of how planets are born

When we look out to the stars, it is typically not a yearning for the distant depths of outer space that drives us. When we are looking out there, we are truly looking back at ourselves. We try to understand our place in...

Archeoastronomy uses the rare times and places of previous total solar eclipses to help us measure history

Total solar eclipses have fascinated and terrified people for centuries. Today, we know that total solar eclipses like the upcoming eclipse on April 8 are caused by a cosmic coincidence when the moon comes between the...

Spacesuits need a major upgrade for the next phase of exploration

Humans have long dreamed of setting foot on the Moon and other planetary bodies such as Mars. Since the 1960s, space travellers have donned suits designed to protect them from the vacuum of space and stepped out into the...

The brightest object in the universe is a black hole that eats a star a day

Scientists have no reported evidence of the true conditions in Hell, perhaps because no one has ever returned to tell the tale. Hell has been imagined as a supremely uncomfortable place, hot and hostile to bodily forms of...

The brain is the most complicated object in the universe. This is the story of scientists’ quest to decode it – and read people’s minds

In the middle of 2023, a study conducted by the HuthLab at the University of Texas sent shockwaves through the realms of neuroscience and technology. For the first time, the thoughts and impressions of people unable to...

Technology

Nvidia and Chinese EV Makers Forge Ahead in Auto AI, as BYD Claims Global EV Crown

Nvidia deepens its collaboration with Chinese EV giant BYD, now the worlds largest EV manufacturer, leveraging Nvidias cutting-edge AI chips to push the boundaries of autonomous driving and digital automotive...

Nvidia's B200 AI Chip Unveiled: A Leap Towards Extending Market Dominance

At its annual developer conference, Nvidia unveiled the B200, a flagship AI chip 30 times faster than its predecessors, aiming to solidify its market dominance amid increasing competition. Nvidias Bold Move: Unveiling...

Nvidia to Power Humanoid Robots Using Generative AI

Nvidia Corporation said on Monday that it has created a hardware and software platform for building humanoid robots. The software firm also added generative artificial intelligence (AI) features to power the robots. The...

Nvidia, Johnson & Johnson MedTech Team Up to Develop AI-Powered Surgery

Johnson Johnson MedTech and Nvidia announced on Monday, March 18, that they are working together to develop and expand new artificial intelligence (AI) applications designed for surgery. Kimberly Powell, Nvidias vice...
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