Central Alliance partner wins prestigious physics award

Congratulations to Geoptic Infrastructure Investigations, a partner to RSK company Central Alliance, which has been awarded the prestigious Business Start-up Award by the Institute of Physics in the UK. This coveted award recognises Geoptic’s work on rail infrastructure projects for Network Rail using muon tomography – a non-invasive technique pioneered by Central Alliance and the UK’s leading academics to support the civil engineering and infrastructure sectors.

The Institute of Physics Start-up Award recognises and celebrates young companies with a great business idea, founded on a physics invention, that have the potential for business growth and significant societal impact. Geoptic’s award was for its “contributions to the rail industry via the development of novel instrumentation and techniques capable of non-invasive imaging, saving time and enhancing the safety of railway workers,” said the Institute of Physics. Geoptic has been using muon tomography to support Network Rail in investigating the overburden of tunnels.

Muon tomography uses cosmic rays in an innovative non-invasive technique. Cosmic rays ‘rain’ down on the Earth’s surface and can be used in the same way as X-rays in medical imaging. Geoptic’s innovative technique offers new benefits of being non-invasive and completely passive, thus improving the safety of tunnel overburden investigations. Geoptic has produced a short animation explaining the technique here.

“The recognition of the Geoptic team’s hard work by this Institute of Physics award is fantastic and sets us up well for success in future years,” commented Dr Chris Steer, Geoptic Managing Director.

It is great to see the technique and our partners receiving the recognition they rightly deserve. Well done, Geoptic!