About us
PPS Members, circa 1960s.
History
The Poynting Physical Society (PPS) is the Physics society at the University of Birmingham. We are older than the university itself, being founded in 1884 by Professor John Henry Poynting while he was professor of Physics at Mason College.
PPS has a long history of independence and democracy, stretching all the way back to the times of Prof. Poynting. PPS was incorporated as a Community Interest Company (CIC) in 2024 to help continue these traditions.
Prof. Poynting derived the Poynting vector in 1884, which describes how energy flows in an electromagnetic field. He also performed a measurement of the Gravitational Constant and the mean density of the Earth in the early 1900s.
Professor John Henry Poynting
Society Structure
PPS is democratically run, with all committee positions including the President directly elected by the members at the annual AGM. At the AGM, all positions in the society are up for re-election. Any member can run for any position, and the person with the most votes wins.
The four most senior positions, known as the Senior Committee, are the President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary. These positions are directors of the CIC.
Other committee positions are the Sports Representative, Social Media Representative, and the Year Representatives for each academic year, who are all classed as volunteers of the CIC.
PPS has a Constitution that all members must adhere to. The Constitution sets out the roles and responsibilities of the committee members, and the code of conduct that all members are expected to follow. Any amendments to the Constitution must be approved by the members at the AGM by a majority verdict.
