Friday,
October 22, 2010,
5:30-6:30pm,
Varian Physics Building lobby (map)
Dear Physics alumni,
Thank you on behalf of the Physics Department for joining us on Friday,
October 22 at our annual physics alumni reunion reception. My
colleagues and I were delighted to have the opportunity to meet with
all of you and to convey our appreciation for your support and interest
in the Physics department. As I mentioned at the reception, one
of our goals is to strengthen the connections with our alumni, and to
keep you updated about department news and events. It is always
interesting and gratifying to learn about the career paths and
achievements of our alumni over the years, and we are very grateful for
our relationships with you. Feel free to contact me anytime; I
look forward to hearing from you.
You may enjoy these
photos taken at the 10/22/10 alumni reception.
With best wishes,
Steven M. Kahn
Chair and Professor of Physics
Dear Physics Alumni,
As the new Chair of the Physics Department, I am writing to remind you
about several upcoming events of interest to our Physics alumni, all of
which you are welcome to attend.
You are cordially invited to attend a special physics alumni reunion
reception on the Stanford campus during Reunion Homecoming
Weekend. On Friday, October 22, 2010, from 5:30-6:30 PM, the
Physics Department will host a special reception for all Physics alumni
in the Varian Physics lobby. Please stop by for refreshments and
meet up with your classmates and our physics faculty. You may
find some of your student-era professors at this reception. We
hope that you will join us for what promises to be a very enjoyable
occasion. If there is anything or anyone in particular that you
would like to see in our department, or if you have any questions,
please contact Jenifer Tice, at (650) 723-4347.
Four of our Physics faculty will be giving "Classes without Quizzes"
during Homecoming Reunion weekend. The first two talks will be on
Friday, Oct. 22 just before our physics alumni reception.
Unfortunately, they are scheduled at the same time, so you'll have to
choose to attend one or the other! They will both be held from
3:15-4:15 PM, with locations to be determined by early October (check
the
alumni website for updates on these lectures and other Homecoming
Weekend events). Prof. Roger Romani's talk is entitled, "Is
Anyone(thing) Else Out There?" and Prof. Kathryn Moler's talk is
entitled, "Small Science With a Big Future: Breakthroughs in
Nanotechnology." Then on Saturday, October 23, Prof. Douglas
Osheroff will give a talk entitled, "How Advances are Made in Science"
from 2:30-3:30 PM in the Cubberley Auditorium in the School of
Education. Also on Saturday, from 4:00-5:00 PM, Prof. Hari
Manoharan will give a talk entitled, "Close Encounters of the Quantum
Kind," to be held in Bldg. 260, Rm. 113 (Language Corner of the Quad).
On the Sunday of Homecoming Weekend (October 24, 2010), there will be a
special symposium honoring Professor Douglas Osheroff’s teaching and
research as we celebrate his 65th birthday. For more details,
including a list of distinguished speakers and registration information
for this event, please go to http://www.stanford.edu/dept/physics/events/2010/osheroff65/
Registration for this event will close on October 14, so if you plan to
attend, we urge you to register soon!
Steven M. Kahn
Physics Dept. Chair Friday, October 22, 2010
03:15 PM - 04:15 PM
Class: Is Anyone(thing) Else Out There? Professor Roger Romani
Building 420, Room 040 (Jordan Hall)
The science fiction of our youth is the science of today. Professor
Romani discusses how recent progress in telescopes and related
technology has made the age-old question of 'are we alone?' subject to
direct experiment. After a quick review of the issues and the
remarkable discoveries of the past decade we discuss how far current
technology lets us push the search for extraterrestrial life and
speculate on where this quest may be a generation hence.
Roger Romani is a professor of physics and Kavli Institute for Particle
Astrophysics and Cosmology member. At Stanford since 1991, he studies
radiations from black holes and pulsars, ranging across the
electromagnetic spectrum. Professor Romani is also interested in
neutron star physics, gravitational waves and the nature of cosmic dark
energy.
Class: Small Science with a Big Future: Breakthroughs in
Nanotechnology, Professor Kam Moler
Building 420, Room 041 (Jordan Hall)
Everyone's heard of nanotechnology. But why is it fundamentally
different than other technologies? How do scientists see, make, and
manipulate nanoscale objects? And what kind of breakthroughs in energy,
medicine, and even our understanding of quantum mechanics are resulting
from nanotech?
Kam Moler, '88, PhD '95 is an associate professor of applied physics
and of physics and director of the Center for Probing the Nanoscale (a
National Science Foundation nanoscale science and engineering center).
Her research interests include the development of magnetic nanoprobes
for studies in experimental condensed matter physics. Professor Moler’s
honors include a Packard Fellowship, an NSF CAREER Award, a
Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the
William L. McMillan Award for outstanding contributions in condensed
matter physics and a fellow of the American Physical Society
Saturday, October 23, 2010
02:30 PM - 03:30 PM
Class: How Advances are made in Science, Professor Douglas
Osheroff
School of Education, Cubberley Auditorium
Professor Osheroff has spent his professional life in the discovery and
elucidation of some of Nature’s deepest secrets. In the process of
doing so, his quest has led him to invent new and potentially useful
technologies. In this lecture, he will describe the processes leading
to discovery and invention, using several Nobel Prize winning
discoveries and inventions as examples.
Douglas Osheroff, J. G. Jackson and C. J. Wood Professor of Physics and
Nobel Laureate, joined the Stanford faculty in 1987. From 1993-96 and
2001-04, he served as the chair of the physics department. Professor
Osheroff he shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of
superfluidity in helium-3. His current research efforts center on
studies of quantum fluids and solids and glasses at ultra-low
temperatures.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
04:00 PM - 05:00 PM
Class: Close Encounters of the Quantum Kind, Professor Hari
Manoharan
Building 260, Room 113 (Language corner)
How real is the quantum world? State-of-the-art tools now allow us to
reach out and touch the hidden world of individual electrons, atoms,
and molecules underlying our physical existence. Professor
Manoharan will explain and exhibit the fascinating sights---and
sounds---collected from his ongoing quest for glimpses of the quantum
building blocks of nature.
Hari Manoharan, associate professor of physics, works with custom-built
low-temperature scanning probe microscopes capable of studying and
controlling matter at atomic length scales. In his Stanford lab, he
conducts research around single-atom and single-molecule manipulation.
Professor Manoharan holds several patents in nanotechnology. Recent
awards include the Alfred P. Sloan Fellow in 2002 and the 2004
Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. Before
joining the physics faculty at Stanford in 2001, he worked as a
research scientist at IBM Almaden Research Center.
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