THE DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY PRESENTS

A SERIES OF LECTURES, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND FILMS

WHAT PHYSICISTS DO
In physics, you don't have to go around making trouble for yourself - nature does it for you. - Frank Wilczek

EIGHTY-EIGHTH SERIES
Fall 2014
Mondays at 4:00 p.m.

Darwin 103

Coffee at 3:30 p.m.

Sep 08 THE EFFECTS OF SOLAR ACTIVITY ON OUR EARTH

Dr. Leif Svalgaard of Stanford University will talk about how the Sun's magnetic activity
influences our environment, for better and for worse.
Sep 15 TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION FORECASTING
Dr. Robert Van Buskirk of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will discuss the formulation
of a "Moore's Law" for green energy (and other) technologies.
Sep 22 TRAPPING AND STUDYING ANTIHYDROGEN ATOMS
Dr. Joel Fajans of University of California, Berkeley will discuss the ALPHA project and
experiments with atomic antimatter.
Sep 29 TBA
TBA
Oct 06 STUDYING X-RAYS FROM SOLAR FLARES
Dr. Lindsay Glesener of University of California, Berkeley will discuss her work using
sounding rocket experiments to study solar X-rays.
Oct 13 JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE GALAXY
Dr. Ann-Marie Madigan of University of California, Berkeley will discuss the stars, gas clouds,
and supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way galaxy.
Oct 20 SHROUDS OF THE NIGHT
Dr. Kenneth Freeman of Australian National University will discuss his distinguished career
studying dark matter in galaxies.
Oct 27 ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Dr. Marc Fisher of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will address how one can apply a
physics education to help solve problems of human stewardship of the Earth's climate.
Nov 03 SPECTROSCOPIC IMAGING WITH A $100 MILLION LIGHT BULB
Dr. Michael Martin of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will discuss advancing infrared
spectroscopy into the 3rd dimension and to the nanoscale using a synchrotron light source.
Nov 10 MANIPULATING ATOMS
Dr. Andreas Heinrich of IBM Research will discuss his work using a scanning probe
microscope to explore and control individual atoms.
Nov 17 GALACTIC FLOWS AND WINDS
Dr. Jessica Werk of University of California, Santa Cruz will discuss her work studying gas
flows into and out of galaxies.
Nov 24 PROBING DARK ENERGY WITH OPTICAL FIBERS AND 5000 ROBOTS
Dr. Claire Poppett of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will discuss the Dark Energy
Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a ground-based experiment for the Mayall Telescope in
Arizona.

This series is supported by private donations and Instructionally Related Activities funds.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA 94928-3609. (707) 664-2119
phys.astro@sonoma.edu
http://phys-astro.sonoma.edu/wpd/