Particle Physics And Astronomy Research Council
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The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It directed, coordinated and funded research in
particle physics Particle physics or high-energy physics is the study of Elementary particle, fundamental particles and fundamental interaction, forces that constitute matter and radiation. The field also studies combinations of elementary particles up to the s ...
and
astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...
for the people of the UK. Its head office was at Polaris House in
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,
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, but it also operated three scientific sites: the
UK Astronomy Technology Centre The UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) is based at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council. The UK ATC designs, builds, develops, tests and manages major instrumentation ...
(UK ATC) in Edinburgh, the
Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes The Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes or ING consists of three optical telescopes: the William Herschel Telescope, the Isaac Newton Telescope, and the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope, operated by a collaboration between the UK Science and Technology ...
(ING) in La Palma and the Joint Astronomy Centre (JAC) in Hawaii. It published the ''Frontiers'' magazine three times a year, containing news and highlights of the research and outreach programmes it supports. The PPARC was formed in April 1994 when the
Science and Engineering Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...
was split into several organizations; other products of the split included the
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British UK Research Councils, Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical scienc ...
(EPSRC) and the
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation, is a non-departmental public body (NDPB), and is the largest UK public funder of non-medical bioscience. It predominantly funds science, scient ...
(BBSRC). In April 2007, it merged with the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC) and the
nuclear physics Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies th ...
portion of the EPSRC to form the new
Science and Technology Facilities Council The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astr ...
(STFC).


''Frontiers'' magazine

PPARC previously published a magazine called ''Frontiers'', .Past issue, volume 14, Autumn 2002.


See also

* List of astronomical societies


References


External links


PPARC website
archive (2007)
''Frontiers'' magazine website
archive (2007)
Research Councils UK
{{Authority control British astronomy organisations Research councils Scientific organizations established in 1994 Scientific organizations disestablished in 2007 Science and Technology Facilities Council 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom