Home | Alex Montwill Radio Interviews & Books

Explaining Physics in a Simple Way

Welcome to the website with many of Alex Montwill's radio interviews which explain physics to you in a simple way. Alex was well known for his lectures in UCD and how he simplified the explanation of physics to his students. This website is an archive of all his radio interviews.

Tony Scott Interview

Tony Scott was a great friend of Alex and interviewed him in 2010. Listen to this interview (this file is 40 MB in size so may take a while to download)

Radio Interviews

Alex loved Physics and dedicated his life to working with others on learning and sharing about Physics. Before he passed away in 2013, Alex compiled a CD of all his radio interviews and started sharing this around - this website contains all these radio interviews so that you can listen to them in your own time.

Listen to some of Alex's interviews online

Books

This website also has a section on the books he wrote with Ann Breslin since his retirement - one about all the interesting facts about Physics and the history of Physics - and one on Quantum Theory, a subject that he specialised in. There is a section in this website on these books and it has links to the website where you can purchase them.

View Alex's published books

Favourite Interviews

Street Science - 07 Why Does The Moon Not Fall Down_

Individual Interviews - 02 Cold Fusion I

From Greeks To Quarks - 01 The Greeks

The Mind Laboratory - 01 Introduction

The Physical World - 01 Seeing

Figures In Physics - 01 Richard Feynman I

Alex Montwill (1935 -2013)

Alex Montwill, Professor Emeritus of Experimental Physics at UCD, was one of the first Irish scientists to work at CERN in the late 1950’s. From about that time onwards he was head of the Fundamental Particle research group at UCD which later became members of the European Nuclear Emulsion Collaboration. The collaboration carried out extensive studies in hypernuclear physics and subsequently made the first observation of the creation and decay of a particle containing a charmed quark.

Apart from over 40 years’ teaching at UCD, Alex lectured at City College New York and at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He presented some 150 Science slots on RTE1 radio in 1980’s and 1990’s. He is co-author with Ann Breslin of the book entitled Let there be light which was published in 2008 by Imperial College Press. Alex and Ann published a second book The quantum adventure in 2012.

Alex’s hobbies were bridge and chess in both of which he represented Ireland in international competition.

Career Details

Alex Montwill: MSc, PhD, DSc, CPhys, FInstP, MRIA

The association of Alex Montwill with University College Dublin dates from 1953 when he went there to study Science, having won an Entrance Scholarship in Mathematics. Following an outstanding undergraduate career culminating in an honours degree in Experimental Physics, he joined the fundamental particle research group, registering for the MSc and, subsequently, the PhD degree under the supervision of the late Professor T.E. Nevin. He was awarded the DSc by the NUI in 1975.

Alex was appointed to an Assistantship in 1959 and a year later found himself in charge of a large and active research group. In the same year, his group was invited to join a leading European Collaboration researching the creation and properties of hypernuclei at Brookhaven and CERN. Alex spent many working periods as a visiting scientist at CERN, tuning particle beams and setting up nuclear emulsion experiments.

There followed a two- year sabbatical at City College, New York and at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis as a visiting professor, during which the focus of his research was in the field of bubble chamber physics. A further international collaboration ensued in 1973 and Alex was chosen to negotiate a proposal with FERMILAB in which an array of emulsions, counters and spark chambers would be exposed to a high-energy neutrino beam. This was the first occasion in which an exclusively European group of researchers was provided with the resources of this major US facility. The experiment, carried out in 1975, was a complete success leading to the first direct observation of the creation and decay of a particle containing a charmed quark.

Over the next decade, he and his group continued to collaborate actively in the development and optimi- sation of hybrid detector systems, by which time a suitable neutrino beam had become available at CERN.

An exceptionally gifted lecturer and tutor

Alex was appointed Statutory Lecturer in 1972, Associate Professor in 1981, and Professor of Experimental Physics in 1985. His nine-year tenure as Head of Department was distinguished not least by an admirably composed and consultative approach to management in the difficult economic climate which prevailed. He strongly supported the expansion of various research fields within the Department and had the satisfaction of presiding over a sustained increase in postgraduate student numbers during his tenure. Alex has also served as Chairperson of the Examinations Appeals Committee since its foundation in 1994, in which time over one thousand appeals have been heard. He continues in this position after his retirement.

Alex hugely enjoyed interacting with students and they in turn greatly admired his insight and the breadth and depth of his knowledge. In recent years, he lectured by invitation and to much acclaim, on Quantum Reality at many venues in Ireland, as well as in Britain and the US. For almost two decades, he has been an accomplished proponent of science, making impressive contributions on both radio and television. Popular series that stood out include From Greeks to Quarks (1984/85), The Mind Laboratory (1986/87), Street Science (1992), Letters from Beyond (1993), and Understanding the Universe (1994).

Alex is a former Leinster Irish Schools’ and Irish Universities’ chess champion, and was Captain of the Irish Under 20 team. At bridge, he has represented Ireland at the World Olympiads on three occasions, besides participating in various European Championships. He and his wife Ann have the distinction of being the first husband and wife partnership to represent Ireland on the open team. He continues to play at the highest level, partnered by Joe MacHale, the two being ranked 7th senior pair in the recent World Olympiad. He is widely read and now a world traveller, visiting his family who are scattered throughout the globe.

Professor Alex Montwill retired from the Chair of Experimental Physics on 28 October 2000. His colleagues and many friends in UCD, together with generations of students on whom he has left a lasting impression, thank him for all he has given to University College Dublin and wish him a long and happy retirement together with Ann and their family.