Friends Old and New

The make-up of the physics department for the 2009-10 school year will look a bit different. Sure, you'll still see Carkner, van Howe, and Vogel around, but there will be two other faces gracing the hallways.

We have just hired Dr. Nathan Frank, a nuclear physics researcher who did his PhD work at Michigan State (nice place). He is slated to teach PHYS 101, Mechanics I & II, and Advanced Lab next year, as well as intro labs.

Also, welcome back Dr. David Renneke, Professor Emeritus, who taught at Augustana until his retirement in 2006. He taught part time in '06-07 and will be teaching part time again next year. He is slated to teach PHYS 102 and 203 and intro labs.

Looking forward to a good year!

Upcoming Events

Don't forget:

Tomorrow, Thursday, April 23, 6:30 pm: BYOM Movie Night!! That is bring your own movie, if you have one you want to watch, and select the movie to be shown when you get there.

Saturday, May 2, 8:30 to 10:00 pm: Astronomy Day Open House. Get there early to help out!

Thursday, May 7, 11:30 am: Sneak Preview of the Celebration of Learning research talks to be given by Kory Blair, Louis Daudet, Kyle Weigand, and Jake Wietting

Sunday, May 10, 1-4 pm: Science Open House (tentative)

EVENTS!!

Event today - Vernal Equinox. Spring officially began at 6:44 am this morning, so now it is spring!

Events next week -
*Tuesday, 11:30, Science 120: Pizza lunch and presentation by the ISU Solar Decathalon team.
*Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday: Ducky and Bake Sale. Yummy food, and pirates vs ninja ducks!
*Thursday 6 pm (or was it 6:30?) 1st weekly movie night! Hopefully in one of the lecture halls

Looking ahead -
Tue. April 7 Denkmann Elementary School Science Night.
April 20, lunch with Dr. Carol LaHurd, who will share recollections of the Manhattan Project

Physics Club Meeting on Thursday

Don't forget!
Physics Club Meeting
Thursday (3-19-09) 11:30 am
Science 120

Possible Topics for discussion:
-fundraisers - ducky!
-nominations for officers - consider nominating yourself!!
-science open house, outreach
-possible events: Manhattan project lunch, ISU, ISU (the other one), ISAAPT
-Movie Night
-Video Game Night
-Toy Video Contest - report from Jess, Alaina, Gee, Jake
-T-shirt - report from Mark, Mike, Jake
-Poker night

Happy Pi Day!

Today is pi day, because the date is 3/14, and pi is approximately equal to 3.14. Actually, the date is 14/03 in much of the world, and the format 3/14 is used in only a few countries including the US and Canada.

Also of note, today is Einstein's birthday - three cheers for the father of modern physics!

And (thanks to Louis Y for the heads-up) apparently it is also Giovanni Schiaparelli's birthday - three cheers for Martians! It was a mistranslation of Schiaparelli's words that led to the long-enduring notion that there is intelligent life on Mars. Schiaparelli mistakenly thought that there were channels carrying water across the surface of Mars. The Italian word for channels, "canali," was mistranslated as canals, making it sound like they had been built by intelligent Martians. Ah, would that Marvin were real...