The University of Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Astronomy are exploring the ancient and ultrasmall at this year’s Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition. The exhibition, being held until tomorrow (3 July), provides hands-on, approachable, interactive exhibits that have many applications in the real world.

The University of Cambridge’s Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Astronomy are exploring the ancient and ultrasmall at this year’s Royal Society’s Summer Science Exhibition. The exhibition, being held until tomorrow (3rd July), provides hands-on, approachable, interactive exhibits that have many applications in the real world.

The Department of Chemistry is presenting the exhibition ‘Seeing is believing - molecules on surfaces in real-space and real-time’. The exhibition, exploring work by Professor David King, the Government’s Chief Science Advisor, and his group, teaches visitors about catalysts on ultrasmall and ultrafast scales. The equipment developed allows scientists to track changes in molecules, atoms and bonds during a chemical reaction, allowing chemists to understand and predict how catalytic reactions take place.

The Institute of Astronomy is presenting the exhibition ‘A spectrum paints a thousand pictures: ancient galaxies viewed in three dimensions’. The exhibition explains how modern telescopes and techniques are used to investigate time before the earth was born. The ‘hands-on’ display includes real telescopes and spectrometers which show all the colours of the rainbow plus extra colours the eye cannot see.

Professor David King, Chief Scientific Advisor to H. M. Government and Head of the Office of Science and Technology said:

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