Students Join Women in Physics Event

Candace Carducci '15 and Mimi Sakarett '15 recently attended the Northeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics at Cornell University, affording them an opportunity to network with faculty, peers and professionals who study or work in physics. The annual conference, which was one of several simultaneously held across the United States, brought together undergraduate women to share their ...  More >>

Students Participate in NASA Competition

This May, four HWS students and three faculty members will participate in the third annual National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition (NSSSC) at Montana State University. The team will compete against 21 colleges and universities to determine the best construction of a solar spectrograph-an instrument used to measure properties of light over the visible and near infra-red portion of the elec...  More >>

Spector Presents at Anacapa Meeting

Professor of Physics Donald Spector recently presented one of the featured lectures at the 2012 meeting of the Anacapa Society held at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minn. Spector's lecture offered a careful look at what it means for interdisciplinary work to incorporate physics in a substantive way. Following the mission of the Anacapa Society, Spector used his talk to support theoretical physi...  More >>

Spector Joins ISIS Board

Professor of Physics and Chair of the Department Donald Spector has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Institute for Science and Interdisciplinary Studies (ISIS). Founded in 1992, ISIS aims to incorporate an understanding of history, politics, economics and culture into the analysis and practice of science. ISIS has supported projects on topics ranging from practical citizen-oriented i...  More >>

Energy Physicist Joins PFS

World-renowned physicist and environmentalist Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute will join the Colleges as the first speaker in the 2012-2013 President's Forum Speaker Series. Lovins, who was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, will discuss his work in energy policy on Thursday, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Vandervort Room.The title of his talk is "Re...  More >>

Once in a Lifetime

This month an event occurred that will not reoccur for more than a century. Joshua Nollenberg, assistant professor of physics, captured the transit of Venus on his telescope on June 6 as Venus began its trip past the sun. Nollenberg was one of millions of people watching the once-in-a-lifetime event. "The Transit of Venus is a very rare event. They happen in pairs, separated by eight years, ev...  More >>

Pumpkin Drop tonight

Anyone interested in celebrating Halloween with a bang should head to the Quad at 11: 45 p.m. tonight, Oct. 31, to witness Galileo Galilei, the famed Italian physicist and astronomer, return from the dead for the 5th Bi-Annual Physics Pumpkin Drop, held during the 'witching hour.' At the stroke of midnight, Galileo will drop two pumpkins, one small and one large, from a platform suspended high ab...  More >>

Einstein's Theory Undone?

Even those unfamiliar with most principles of physics can identify the equation E=mc2, Albert Einstein’s statement that mass is a measure of energy content. Most significantly, that equation, which has become synonymous with Einstein’s genius, is integral to the Theory of Relativity. However, in a shocking announcement, scientists from the European Center for Particle Physics and the Italian Nati...  More >>

Hembeck '12 Studies Thermal Noise

Julie Hembeck '12 spent her summer studying the thermal noise of mirror coatings in order to improve the sensitivity of the test mass mirrors in the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). Hembeck has worked closely with Associate Professor of Physics Steve Penn in assembling the vacuum system for the experiment and taking measurements of the mechanical loss of the coatings. "...  More >>

Olek '12 Spends Summer Cooling Atoms

Devin Olek ’12 is spending a second summer conducting research with Assistant Professor of Physics Pasad Kulatunga. “This is an optimal internship because I benefit from working alongside one of my professors in a one-on-one environment,” said Olek, a double major in physics and chemistry. In the lab, Olek is using special lasers to cool atoms. The atoms are then captured in a Magneto-Optical Tra...  More >>