Lab in lorry project wins astronomer top prize

Dr Charles Jenkins from the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at ANU has been awarded the 2007 Kelvin Medal for Physics by the London-based Institute of Physics (IoP), which praised his leadership of the Lab in a Lorry project.

Jenkins devised the mobile physics education truck while working for technology-development company Schlumberger in the UK in 2001.

"I overheard a young student describing a physics experiment that hadn't gone to plan in the classroom and realised that these "dead alleys' were really missed opportunities to explore science in all its richness and complexity," Jenkins said.

"The Lab in a Lorry project was a chance to create a mobile laboratory supervised by volunteer physicists who could show young people that science could stand on its own feet " that mistakes, false trails, the unexpected, are an integral part of the scientific adventure, and that children have a curiosity and freshness which makes them natural scientists."

The lorry project was put together by scientists at Schlumberger's research labs in Cambridge, England, with help from the Cavendish Laboratory in the University of Cambridge, and the local branch of the Institute of Physics.

"The lorries are still touring and have had over 42,000 visitors since we started. It's great to be honoured by the IoP in this way, but the true reward is knowing that thousands of young people are discovering that physics is a vibrant and fun field of discovery," Jenkins said.

19/10/2006