Korea Einstein Special Exhibition 2005

From July 1, 2005 to February 28, 2006, The Seoul National Science Museum will host the “Korea Einstein Special Exhibition 2005.” Among other items, the exhibit features several gravitation experiments on loan from the University of Maryland. The Weber Bar, developed at Maryland in the 1960’s by the late Joseph Weber, was used to detect gravitational waves. In the photograph from the exhibit, the Weber bar, a 1.5-ton aluminum antenna, is sitting on the four-point ("dead bug") suspension developed by Maryland Professor Emeritus Jean-Paul Richard. A solenoid with a plunger (hidden from view) excites the antenna in simulation of a gravitational wave pulse and a room-temperature version of Professor Ho-Jung Paik's resonant-transducer with a voice-coil pickup, mounted on the antenna, reads out the motion of the antenna and displays the output on a computer monitor.

World Year of Physics Celebration in Colombia

On September 5, 2005, alumna Ana Maria Rey (Ph.D., 04) will give one of the four plenary talks at Fisica Y Sociedad – Ano Mundial de la Fisica 2005, the Colombian World Year of Physics celebration. The other three speakers are a Nobel Laureate in Physics, the president of the Colombian national automotive company, and an eminent German physicist.   Dr. Rey earned her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Maryland in the Fall of 2004. This Spring, her doctoral thesis on time evolution of a Bose-Einstein condensate loaded into an optical lattice earned her the American Physical Society's Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Atomic, Molecular or Optical Physics award. She is the first woman and the first Hispanic ever to receive that award.

For more about Dr. Rey's story, please click here.

September 21, 2005
1412 Physics
6 pm

On Wednesday, September 21 at 6 pm, the University of Maryland Department of Physics, in conjunction with the American Physical Society and the PBS television station WGBH, will host a sneak preview of Einstein’s Big Idea, the special scheduled to air on NOVA on October 11, 2005. The special, part of the international World Year of Physics celebration, is a docudrama that explores the story behind the world’s most famous equation, e=mc².

The sneak preview will be held in Maryland’s physics lecture hall, room 1412 at 6 pm. Following the screening, Dr. S. James Gates, professor of Physics and one of the scientists appearing in the film and Paula S. Apsell, senior executive producer of NOVA, will take questions from the audience. A reception of refreshments and light fare will follow.

For more information about Einstein’s Big Idea, please click here.

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