The Biggest Nothing in the Universe!
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Dave
On Monday, March 31, at 7:00 pm, in room 116 in the Wick Science Building, the biggest nothing in the universe comes to St. Cloud State University. Professor Lawrence Rudnick from the University of Minnesota co-discovered the largest area in the universe where nothing appears to be found. He will speak about nothing and his discovery that evening.
The biggest nothing in the Universe — 1 billion light years across — made worldwide news last fall and was voted #16 in Discovery Magazine’s list of the top 100 for 2007. What is this big nothing? How was it found? Is it still there or has it disappeared with further study? Why should we care? All this and more about nothing will be discussed in a talk by Professor Lawrence Rudnick.
Professor Rudnick has been involved with a wide variety of professional development activities for faculty members and graduate students at the University and public education and outreach activities in the community. He worked with the Minneapolis Public Schools on science education projects, and was recently co-PI of a 5 year NSF Local Systemic Initiative Grant for training of K-8 teachers in using hands-on science. For more than a decade he was a consultant and a frequent on-screen guest expert with the public television show “Newton’s Apple”. He is a founding member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society, which is currently seeking funding to match the state grant for a new planetarium and space discovery center.

Lawrence Rudnick is an internationally known research scientist, distinguished teacher and longstanding contributor to public education and the professional development of K-12 science educators. His research work, supported by both the National Science Foundation and NASA, focuses on the interactions of relativistic plasmas with the thermal gas in supernova remnants, radio galaxies, and clusters of galaxies, through radio, X-ray, optical and infrared observations.
Minnesota’s CSI Comes to St. Cloud State University
Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 08:38 AM by Dave
On February 26, 2008, a member of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Science Laboratory will give a presentation to the public at St. Cloud State University’s Physics and Astronomy Seminar Series (PASS).
James Koch, a scientist at the BCA Laboratory, will give a one hour talk on the activities of the Lab, along with the science that is used by his department. Details about crime scenes and, perhaps, specific science investigations may be given.
Citizens in the St. Cloud area, along with SCSU students, staff, and faculty are specifically invited.
This presentation will be given February 26 in the Wick Science Building, room 116 at 7:00 pm.
Renewable Energy, Energy Independence and Climate Change
Wednesday, January 16th, 2008 at 08:46 PM by Dave
Physicist Louis Schwartzkopf will discuss “Renewable Energy, Energy Independence and Climate Change” 7 p.m. Jan. 22, in Room 116 of the Robert H. Wick Science Building.
The presentation is part of a seminar series sponsored by the St. Cloud State University Department of Physics, Astronomy and Engineering Sciences.
“There is increasing evidence that world oil production has peaked and that we need to think seriously about how to mitigate the effects of decreasing oil production, said Schwartzkopf, a professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato. “The evidence indicates that we must reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases significantly in the next ten years in order to avoid catastrophic climate change.”
Schwartzkopf will discuss steps Minnesota can take toward energy independence and a sustainable economy.
He holds a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley. View a “Renewable Energy in Minnesota - How Much Do We Need?”, a Microsoft Powerpoint presentation he gave at an April 2006 sustainability conference in Mankato.
The free presentation is designed for a general audience. Questions may be directed to 320-308-2011.
The Hubble Space Telescope will be fixed!
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008 at 09:19 AM by Dave
At yesterday’s meeting at the American Astronomical Society’s winter meeting, I listened to Michael Griffin, the head of NASA, give a talk on the future plans of NASA’s work. He announced that NASA will send the space shuttle to repair the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). HST has slowly been losing its gyroscopes which keeps the telescope properly aimed in the sky. There was also a power failure in January of 2007. This repair mission will be this coming August.
The extent of the repair will also include the replacement of circuit boards which have never been thought to be replaced. The astronauts will have to use their bulky gloves to remove small screws which holds the boards in place. Not an easy job if you have ever used bulky gloves to do detailed work.
This repair mission will extend the life of this famous telescope until 2013. The expected demise of this telescope will be in 2020 when NASA will strap on a rocket and fire it into an ocean.
HST has given us some of the most spectacular images of our universe. The famous Deep Field images show the formation of galaxies about 13 billion years ago, just after the Big Bang.
I am glad to see that NASA is giving a fresh breath into the life of this famous telescope to help the discovery of science in the universe. Go to NASA’s web site to see some of the things that NASA is doing and see some of the images that HST has gained for us. www.nasa.gov/home/
American Astronomical Society’s Meeting
Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 10:23 AM by Dave
I will be visiting the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas from January 8-11. I will be reporting on new developments from the meeting. Watch for new updates.
