The School of Maths & Physics is delighted to welcome Prof David Cassidy of University College London to present at the second Sir Harrie Massey's Colloquium. This event is open to all, so get your free tickets here! 

Short Bio: Prof. D. Cassidy obtained his PhD at University College London in 1999 on "“Positronium formation at surfaces and studies towards the production of cold antihydrogen" under the supervision of Prof. M. Charlton and carried out research at Harvard, Washington State University, and University of California before being appointed lecturer at the University College London, where he was appointed professor in physics in 2018. Prof. Cassidy is a world leader in the physics of positrons and positronium and has attracted multi-million funding from national and international research councils.  

 Abstract: Experimental positron physics has been a feature of University College London for more than 50 years, largely because of the influence of Sir Harrie Massey who led the physics department since the 1950’s, after having worked at QUB. The field of positron physics at that time was largely related to scattering and related phenomena, which were active fields of research at UCL until very recently. I will discuss some new areas of positron and positronium physics that I have been conducting since moving to UCL in 2013. This work is more related to precision measurements of Ps properties as a way to test QED theory, and perhaps also search for “new physics”. In particular I will discuss recent microwave spectroscopy of the positronium fine structure, and the prospects for future precision measurements.