Category: physics and astronomy

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and the the division of biological sciences will host a new lecture series on the UGA campus this spring: The Origins Lecture Series

Since mankind’s earliest days the story of our origins has been one of fascination and inspiration.  In an effort to share that story six of UGA’s leading scientists have come together to present the latest scientific findings on everything from our humble beginnings on the plains of east Africa to the formation of the universe itself.  The Origins Lecture Series is intended for the entire Athens community.  In clear and plain language these talks are geared for those who want to know more about who we are, how we got here, and possibly, where we are going.

We'll have much more to say about this in the coming weeks, including a preview of the first lecture in the series by Loris Magnani of the department of physics and astronomy on the Origin of the Universe on Wednesday, January 23. Congratulations and thanks to Mark Farmer, chair of our biological sciences division, for bringing this important lecture series to fruition.

Reach for the stars, or merely gaze upon them from the rooftop of the physics building:

The University of Georgia department of physics and astronomy in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences will host its monthly observatory open house Oct. 19 from 8-9:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the physics building.

 

The double cluster of Perseus, which is comprised of two nearby groups of thousands of stars, and the pale blue planet Uranus will be visible if the skies are clear. Late in the evening, Jupiter rises in the east, accompanied by its four largest moons known as the Galilean satellites in honor of their discovery by Galileo Galilei in 1610.

Visitors can view the objects through the 24-inch telescope in the dome on top of the building as well as through several smaller telescopes on the roof. Faculty and students from the department will be on hand to point out the various celestial objects and to answer questions.

Talk about date night, with nature.

Image: Photo from an open house in September by John Gallagher Gonzales, Franklin College of Arts and Sciences.

The department of physics and astronomy will host a lecture this week with Georgetown University's Francis Slakey:

Slakey will describe the decade-long journey that led him to become the first person to summit the highest mountain on every continent and surf every ocean during a University of Georgia lecture on Oct. 11 at 4 p.m. in room 202 of the physics building.

 

Slakey's talk, "Science and the Journey of Extremes," is hosted by the department of physics and astronomy in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and is free and open to the public.

As the co-director of the Program in Science in the Public Interest at Georgetown, Slakey brings an unsual variety of expertise to campus for a public lecture. This one should be good.

Scientists at the University of Georgia, the University of California, San Diego, UCLA, California State Polytechnic University and the Australia National University have collaborated on a study, published in the journal Nature, suggesting new information on how planets are formed.

The study:

began with a curious and unexpected finding: Within three years, the cloud of dust circling a young star in the Scorpius-Centaurus stellar nursery simply disappeared.

"The most commonly accepted time scale for the removal of this much dust is in the hundreds of thousands of years, sometimes millions," said study co-author Inseok Song, assistant professor of physics and astronomy in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "What we saw was far more rapid and has never been observed or even predicted. It tells us that we have a lot more to learn about planet formation."

In June, 2009, the College joined the department of physics and astronomy in hosting a reception celebrating a $3.2 million renovation to the 50-year-old physics building on Cedar Street, a renovation that included space for the new Center for Simulational Physics. Distinguished Research Professor of Physics David Landau established and has led the simulational physics research group at UGA since the 1970's.

The 25th Annual Workshop in the series, "Recent Developments in Computer Simulations Studies in Condensed Matter Physics" is underway  and will continue all this week at UGA.

The UGA department of physics and astronomy has been hosting a monthly open house at the UGA Observatory since at least 1998 (trying to confirm the actual beginning*). This tradition continues on Feb. 24 from 7:30 - 9 p.m. on the fourth floor of the physics building.