The Fall 2005 Saturday Morning Physics series is sponsored by the Dr. M. Lois Tiffany endowment and gifts from friends of the program.

The Department of Physics is very appreciative of Pfizer Inc for funding the videotaping of both the Spring and Fall 2005 Saturday Morning Physics talks. For more taping information, please click here.

Click here for a copy of the fall poster.

Saturday, October 1, 2005
Professor Thomas Zurbuchen, AOSS, College of Engineering
1905: Einstein and Bern, A Year to Remember
One hundred years ago in a small apartment building in Bern, Switzerland, a patent clerk wrote five short articles that changed our understanding of the world. It is this amazing story that will be told in a novel audio-visual science show.
We are currently unable to post this talk on the website.

Saturday, October 8, 2005
Professor Martinus J.G. Veltman, Nobel Laureate (1999), U-M Physics Department
Origins (This talk will be held in 1800 Chemistry Auditorium)
Normally a scientist will not engage in speculations about the world around us and in particular not about the origin thereof. He will stick to reproducible facts, and try to produce definite verifiable predictions. That does not mean that he never thinks or fantasizes about it, indoors. In this lecture we will talk about such things.
This talk is embargoed until early December.

Saturdays, October 15, 22 & 29, 2005
Dr. Sarah Yost, U-M Physics Department
Special Relativity in the Cosmos
October 15 - Special Relativity: Where Do Stretched Time & Squeezed Length Come From?
October 22 - Observing Special Relativistic Effects Directly in Astronomy
October 29 - Gamma-Ray Bursts: Special Relativity in the Brightest Explosions
These talks will explain Special Relativity and its consequences for high-energy astronomy, including apparently superluminal jets and intense gamma-ray flashes.
Dr. Sarah Yost's PowerPoint talk from October 15

Saturday, November 5 & 12, 2005
Dr. Richard Vallery, U-M Physics Department
When Antimatter and Matter Collide, E = mc2 Prevails
November 5 - Gone in 140 Nanoseconds: the Measurement of a Lifetime
November 12 - A Better Future through Annihilation: Positrons in Materials Science
When they meet, matter and antimatter annihilate in a manner that reveals not only basic science but also provides practical application. The reality of antimatter is as rich as that presented in science fiction.

Saturday, November 19 & December 3, 2005
Professor James Allen, U-M Physics Department
Matter Condensed: Science, Technology, Emergence & Society
November 19 - Matter Condensed: Science, Technology & Society
December 3 - Matter Condensed: Science, Emergence & Society
Through semiconductor nano-technology, condensed matter science has had a profound impact on society. Equally profound, it also provides elegant paradigms of the cooperative emergent phenomena that govern behaviors at all levels of complexity from atoms to societies.
Professor James Allen's PowerPoint talk from November 19

Professor James Allen's PowerPoint talk from December 3

Members of the news media may request more information about the speakers and topics from Carol Rabuck, U-M Physics Department Editor, at crabuck@umich.edu or call (734) 763-2588.