PHYSICS CLUB


2005-06 Physics Club Officers

  • President: Sarah Carlson
  • Vice President: Travis Clark
  • Treasurer: Travis Clark
  • Secretary: Sarah Carlson

2005-06 Events 

Brian Greene Talk
February 22  Our favorite string theorist, Brian Greene, gave a talk titled "String Theory: Reaching for Einstein's Dream" at Ball State University.  Physics Club members Sarah Carlson, Keith Hubbard, Andrew Beaver, and Tammy Kjonaas took a road trip to hear the talk.  Afterwards they got books signed by Dr. Greene and took a group picture with him.  How exciting!

Connections Tuesday
Every Tuesday beginning April 11  Connections Tuesday is back!  Connections Tuesday is when we get together and watch shows by Dr. James Burke, a science historian and quite a character.  His shows are about the history of science and technology and hop from one idea to another.  The shows are really interesting and entertaining to watch, and you learn things along the way.  Connections Tuesdays will be held in room 249 from 12:15 pm to 12:45 pm.  Light lunch will be served.

Physics Movie Night 
April 12  The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy showing in room 249 at 6 pm.  Pizza will be served.  "Don't panic!"

Physics Study Nights 
April 16 and April 23  The Physics Club is holding two study nights this month in the Physics Student Study Lounge.  All physics students are welcome to come by for some studying and snacks.  Students enrolled in Principles of Physics are invited to join us as physics majors will be available to answer questions.  Studying starts at 6 pm, but come whenever you'd like! 

Speaker 
April 21 Mike DeCarlo, brother of Professor DeCarlo, will speak about "The History and Science of Superheroes" in room 249 at 4pm.  Mike is a comic book artist and has worked us titles such as Simpsons, Fantastic Four, Batman, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and adaptions of Warner Brothers cartoons such as Looney Tunes, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain.  Talk abstract: 

Ever since the debut of Superman in 1938, superhero comics have thrilled and delighted readers all over the world. By the 1950s, DC Comics featured a panoply of characters with extraordinary abilities, including Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman. But it can be argued that it wasn’t until Marvel Comics introduced “superheroes with angst” such as Spider-Man that superhero comics became a real cultural phenomenon. In this talk I will present a brief history of superhero comics - with the focus on the Golden and Silver Ages of the 1940s and 1960s - and comment on the influences these comics have had on mainstream culture. I will also discuss the ways in which superheroes routinely violate the laws of nature, most notably the conservation laws of energy and momentum.

Roving Mars at IMAX
April 30  See Mars as the Mars Rovers have in Walt Disney's Roving Mars showing on the giant screen at the IMAX theater in Indianapolis.  We will leave from the department around 1:30 pm.  This event is free.

Speaker 
May 3  Our final speaker of the semester will be Dr. Thomas Carter in room 249 at 4pm.  Dr. Carter joins us from Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security Program and the University of Illinois.  His talk is titled "The Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster."  Talk abstract:

This April is the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Early in the morning of April 26th, 1986, reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, caught fire and spewed massive amounts of radioactive fuel and waste into the atmosphere. With the plant located just 125 kilometers northeast of Kiev in the then Soviet republic of Ukraine, only luck, a favorable wind and the heroic efforts of a few people prevented a catastrophe of unimaginable scale. This talk will review the basic physics of nuclear reactors in general and lay out the details of how this specific disaster came about. Finally, I propose that it represents a cautionary tale for the careless use of technology in the future.