The majority of the conference will be held in the Denys Wilkinson Building.
The Denys Wilkinson Building on Keble Road was opened in 1969 to house Oxford’s Nuclear Physics Laboratory and is named after the experimental nuclear physicist Denys Wilkinson, who led the laboratory for many years. The building was purpose-designed to accommodate large accelerator equipment, most notably Van de Graaff (VdG) electrostatic particle accelerators used to investigate nuclear structure and reactions in the mid-twentieth century. These high-voltage machines accelerated charged particles to probe atomic nuclei, forming a major part of Oxford’s post-war experimental physics programme. Over time, as nuclear accelerator research wound down in Oxford, the building evolved into a broader physics facility and today houses the Astrophysics Sub-Department within the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics, serving as the principal base for astronomical research in the university.
Denys Wilkinson Building | Access Guide
On Wednesday 19th August we will have a day of our conference at Green Templeton College, including a tour of the grounds and observatory as allowed (TBD).
Green Templeton College is a graduate college of the University of Oxford. At the centre of the college stands the Radcliffe Observatory, constructed between 1772 and 1794 as the home of Oxford’s astronomical research. The observatory was established after the Savilian Professor of Astronomy, Thomas Hornsby, demonstrated the need for a dedicated observing site following his observations of the 1769 transit of Venus. From the 1770s until 1934, the Radcliffe Observatory served as Oxford’s principal astronomical research facility. Astronomers working there conducted systematic observations of stars, planets and celestial events, contributing to positional astronomy and timekeeping. The observatory also played a role in meteorological recording - as it still does today. In 1934, Oxford’s main astronomical work moved to a new site in South Africa, bringing the original observatory’s scientific operations to a close.
Today, although the building no longer functions as an observatory, it remains the architectural and historical heart of Green Templeton College. The college, formally established in 2008 through the merger of Green College and Templeton College, inherited the Radcliffe Observatory and its scientific legacy.
As part of recent effort to strengthen ties between the contemporary astronomical research done in the Astrophysics department and the history of the Radcliffe Observatory, there are now several astronomers that serve as Associate or Senior Fellows at GTC.
An Oxford campus map can be found here.