The World Science Fiction Convention, is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). The five day-long event has been held each year since 1939 with the exception of four years during World War II. Some highlights of the Worldcon Program have included Nobel Prize winners, astronauts, scientists, writers, editors, publishers, artists and fans.
Dr Clements presented 6 talks and 4 panel sessions at the 2012 World Science Fiction Convention. Audiences of up to 300 attended his talks and Dr Clements described the audiences as ‘enthusiastic and interested’.
Dr Clements is a senior Lecturer in the Physics Department at Imperial College London. His research focuses on Space-based astronomy, Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies, Extragalactic far-infrared and submillimetre astronomy and the quasar-galaxy connection.
The topic of Dr Clements’ talks focused on Herschel, The European Space Agency’s cutting edge space observatory which has the largest single mirror ever built for a space telescope. At 3.5-metres in diameter the mirror will collect long-wavelength radiation from some of the coldest and most distant objects in the Universe. In addition, Herschel is the only space observatory to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimetre.