Some of the hottest topics in physics and astronomy will be described this fall in Sonoma State University's free public lecture series, "What Physicists Do."
Lectures will be on Mondays from Sep. 8 through Dec. 1 at 4 p.m. in room 103 Darwin Hall. Coffee and cookies will be available in the Darwin lobby at 3:30.
The series will open Sep. 8 with University of California, Berkeley physicist Richard Muller, presenting "Physics for Future Presidents," based on his course voted Best Class at Berkeley. Muller, a onetime MacArthur Fellow, has just published a book with the same title.
The following Monday NASA planetary scientist Carol Stoker will present first results from the Phoenix Lander Mission, now digging into the polar region of Mars.
Two of the speakers are past presidents of the American Physical Society and members of the National Academy of Sciences. They are Marvin Cohen, one of a handful of people to hold the title of University Professor at Berkeley, who will speak on "Einstein, Nanoscience, and Superconductivity" Oct. 27, and Helen Quinn of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, who will describe "The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter" Nov. 10.
Other speakers will present antineutrino physics, doing chemistry one molecule at a time, studies of electronic structure of novel metals, use of the world's brightest beams of gamma rays, advanced solar cells, and the chemistry of planet formation.
The series will conclude with three lectures commemorating the 400th anniversary of the telescope, which was patented in October 1608.
This will be the 76th semester for the series of public lectures. The organizer, SSU professor Joe Tenn, is grateful to the donors who make it possible.
For a free poster describing all thirteen lectures, visit http://phys-astro.sonoma.edu/wpd/, send e-mail to phys.astro@sonoma.edu" or call (707) 664-2119.
