STEM Ed Announcement: Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe

[mort@k12s.phast.umass.edu]

This is not a UMass program.
 Contact information is below.
 ================================
 
 Time, Einstein and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe
 William Phillips
 
 September 9, 2010
 7:30 p.m.
 Merrill Science Center, Lecture Room 1
 Amherst College
 
 Free and open to the public.
 Reception to follow lecture.
 National Institute of Standards & Technology; Nobel Laureate 1997
 
 
 At the beginning of the 20th century, Albert Einstein
 changed the way we think about nature. At the
 beginning of the 21st century, Einsteins thinking is
 shaping one of the key scientific and technological wonders
 of contemporary life: atomic clocks  the best timekeepers
 ever made. Such superaccurate clocks are essential to industry,
 commerce and science; they are the heart of the Global
 Positioning System (GPS), which guides cars, airplanes and
 hikers to their destinations. Today, atomic clocks are still being
 improved using atoms cooled to incredibly low temperatures.
 Atomic gases reach temperatures less than a billionth
 of a degree above Absolute Zero without freezing. Such
 atoms are at the heart of Primary Clocks, accurate to better
 than a second in 80-million years, as well as both using and
 testing some of Einsteins strangest predictions.
 This will be a lively multi-media presentation, including
 experimental demonstrations and down-to-earth
 explanations about some of todays most exciting science
 
 
 About the speaker
 Professor William Phillips (Distinguished University Professor,
 University of Maryland, College Park) is a Fellow of the
 National Institute of Standards & Technology and Co-director
 of the Institute. In 1997, together with colleagues, he was
 awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for developing methods
 to cool and trap atoms with laser light. He has been a major
 contributor to discussions of the relationship between science
 and religion; and in 2009, he joined 35 Nobel Laureates in
 an open letter to President Obama urging dedicated annual
 funding for clean energy research, design and demonstration.
 In October 2010, he will participate in the USA Science and
 Engineering Festivals Lunch with a Laureate program,
 joining middle- and high-school students in informal
 conversation over a brown bag lunch. (usasciencefestival.org)
 
 Whats New in Physics is a Five College symposium for undergraduates and
 faculty featuring leading figures in physics research and sponsored by the
 departments of physics with support from Five Colleges, Incorporated.

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