I mentioned earlier of an article on the Davisson-Germer's experiment as part of the commemoration of 100 anniversary of Quantum Mechanics (QM). This is an article describing a bit more of the celebration and the importance of QM. Hint: without QM, none of your modern electronics (computers, smartphones, etc.) will work.
Zz.
The US National Science Foundation (NSF) will be livestreaming the total Solar Eclipse of 2024. Here is the blurb from them:
Don't just watch the eclipse — explore it. On April 8, the U.S. National Science Foundation and the NSF National Solar Observatory are hosting an educational livestream all about the science of the sun.
The livestream is a free resource that educators can use in their classrooms to share the excitement of science.
You'll hear from scientists about the unique experiments happening during the eclipse. As we count down to the moment of totality, you'll learn about:
- The different layers of the sun, from the core to the corona.
- The world's largest, most advanced solar telescope.
- How massive solar eruptions generate space weather.
It all happens on YouTube on April 8 starting around 11 a.m. PDT/noon MDT/1 p.m. CDT/2 p.m. EDT.
The workshop to honor Anderson, the Joseph Henry Professor of Physics, Emeritus, and a senior physicist, was held Dec. 14 and 15 at the Frick Chemistry Laboratory on campus. About 150 colleagues and former students from as far away as India and Japan attended, as well as five fellow Nobel Prize winners and one Fields Medal recipient. The gathering was organized by N. Phuan Ong, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Princeton, and Piers Coleman, professor of physics at Rutgers University.Anyone who has followed this blog for a while would have seen me mentioned Anderson's name a few times. He, of course, had a huge role to play in the formulation of the Higgs mechanism. And the discovery that bears his name, the Anderson Localization, has been a ubiquitous presence in condensed matter physics. But of course, he also championed the notion that More Is Different, an influential essay that started other physicists to question the reductionism philosophy.
On Saturday, FSU professors will conduct free tours through the physics department, give lecture demonstrations, planetarium shows and hands-on experiments from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m."We will have certain rooms dedicated to certain areas in physics, and each room will have a hands-on demonstration led by a professor," said Volker Crede, FSU physics associate professor.I have a $1 wager here that says that at least a few of the questions they will be asked is about the OPERA/faster-than-light neutrinos! :)
“Nothing is unstable,” Frank Wilczek, a physicist and Nobel laureate from MIT, finally said to a general murmur of agreement of his colleagues on stage, John Barrow of Cambridge University in England, Paul Davies of Arizona State and George Ellis of the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
Given a chance, nature will make nothingness boil with activity.
The darkened laboratories will feature more than 80 interactive displays, including floating magnets, a levitating ghost, a hair-raising electrostatic machine and a "witch's cauldron," filled with a concoction of water and chilly liquid nitrogen. Visitors can don "rainbow glasses," get creative with glow-in-the-dark face paints, ponder the lightning bolts in a plasma globe and make artworks that will only appear normal in funhouse-like mirrors.
A fog machine is used for visualization of lasers. Other light and optical displays include an electrical Jacob's ladder. Volunteer students and professors will be on hand to explain the science behind the demonstrations.
And, thanks to the NIU Chemistry Club, kids will have an opportunity to make take-home slime.
