A HALE Barns school has brought together physics experts to explain its importance in the world of science.

Hundreds of GCSE students from secondary schools across Trafford contemplating the choices to be made before the next stage of their education, listened intently to a series of experts now using their physics qualifications to improve society at a special conference at St Ambrose College.

Organised by The Ogden Trust, which was established by the Rochdale born scientist and entrepreneur Sir Peter Ogden, with the aim to restore Britain's reputation as global centre for innovation, the event examined both the intellectual challenge of studying the largest and smallest aspects of the universe and the practical impact physicists makes on our daily routines.

Andrew Thomson, who is a design engineer for railway systems manufacturer, Mott-McDonald, said: “Get involved. Physics is cool and there are endless possibilities for creative roles in society.”

Andrew Marwick, a lecturer in astrophysics at Manchester University, attached to Jodrell Bank, said: “I was always looking up at the stars and was fascinated by the fact that I could never go there, but then I discovered you could find out what was there by looking at them and examining the chemical molecules in outer space.”

He added: “Who knows what advances future generations will make and one day we might be able to inhabit other parts of the universe.”

Peter Greenhalgh, an oceanographer and meteorologist with the Royal Navy Reserve, said: “The advances in technology in our field have been astonishing and something I said with conviction 20 years I would discount now, so who knows how far the next generation will take us.”

St Ambrose physics teacher Sabiyah Qadir, who helped co-organise the event, said: “We have just lost one of our greatest role models in Sir Stephen Hawking, but believe more and more of our best young people will take up the challenge to discover more about the world around them, and in so doing provide practical solutions to our very real problems."