Fall 2004: World of Physics 2005: (Adobe Acrobat version)

Dr. David Ward's report on the World of Physics 2005 - www.physics2005.org

Fall 2002: Shooting for the Moon

Dr. David J. Lawrence from Los Alamos National Lab's Space and Atmospheric Sciences Group presented a fascinating tour de force of lunar science history.  He even showed a clip of one of the Apollo moon shots!  He divided lunar science into a pre-Apollo, Apollo, a post Apollo time in which very little lunar science was done, and finally the recent ten years, which has shown a renaissance in lunar science with the successful Clementine and Lunar Prospector missions.  These missions were famous for their discovery of water on the Moon--not the liquid stuff, but ice crystals in the lunar soil ('regolith') of polar craters.  In addition, the largest impact basin in the solar system-the Aitkin basin-was discovered by Clementine.  Dr. Lawrence's talk encouraged the teachers to see what their influence can result in--the stars themselves.

And in a side note, I can't help adding that while at Lawrence Livermore National Lab, one of my best friends worked on the Clementine project. Ernie's job was to design and program the GUI (Graphical User's Interface) for the Clementine software.  It was an exciting time as he and the rest of his colleagues frantically worked to make the launch window of the Clementine booster rocket.  They made it (barely) and the rest is history. As soon as the images were collected, the Lab had an open house and I slowly went from picture to picture, as rapt in the beauty of the images there as I might have been in the Louvre or Prado.

Fall 2001: What is Shape?

Dr. Anthony Nicholls, owner of OpenEye Scientific Software, is world-renowned in the field of molecular modeling. He obtained his Ph.D. in biophysics from The Florida State University in 1989, where, as he says, he "studied quantum dispersion of excitations in biological systems with William Rhodes and football with Bobby Bowden."  Afterward he worked for Prof. Barry Honig at Columbia University for several years before starting his own company.  While at Columbia with Dr. Honig, he helped develop GRASP, a widely used program that displays electric potentials around macromolecules.  At OpenEye, Dr,. Nicholls continues to be a world leader in modeling of biomolecules, as he has with his colleagues developed a suite of programs used widely to model drug molecules and their interactions with their target sites.  Dr. Nicholls spoke fondly of his relationship to his boyhood teachers and ended with a review of his research--namely, how one understands what molecular shape really is.

Fall 2000: Those Rascally Coyotes!

Well, not really!  Mr. Gary Cook, Region I Manager of the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (T W R A) gave an inspirational keynote address about coyote ecology. He reported that coyotes are now abundant West Tennessee mammals, having migrated here in the last few decades. Because they came to Tennessee of their own will, they are categorized as a natural West Tennessee species.  Coyotes are classified as "density-dependent breeds," meaning they have very large litters if there are few or no coyotes in the area. Once a state population has been established they have small litters of young. This means it is fruitless to try to eradicate them, as many states have tried. If you kill off many of them they just have bigger litters. Mr. Cook counseled a peaceful coexistence with the coyote, and related that Tennessee has led the way in living peaceably with the coyote.

Mr. Cook really dealt with issues much larger than coyote ecology. He spoke passionately about understanding your links with the land, and how we can inhabit the planet without despoiling it. In this, he said he was following in the footsteps of Aldo Leopold, an early leader in resource management.

Several of the teachers of the fall meeting verbalized how much they enjoyed his excellent talk. I did too, because I appreciate his exhortation to see science as a deeply human endeavor that can demonstrate how we can never be independent of the land we in habit.

Fall 1999: The Physics of Toys

Our featured luncheon speaker last fall was Prof. Raymond Turner, a nationally recognized physics educator.  He is Alumni Distinguished Professor of Physics [emeritus] from Clemson University, and has won the American Association of Physics Teachers "Excellence in Undergraduate Physics Teaching Award" (1997) as well as Clemson University's "Award of Excellence for Teaching in the Sciences," (1996). His lecture was well-received by West Tennessee's teachers, and his address to the public the previous day was featured in the Jackson Sun ("Speaker Explains Fun of Physics," Friday, October 8, 1999). The main handicap to paying attention was avoiding all the whirling, whizzing, and whistling projectiles Dr. Turner hurled from the podium! After the talk, one young man said, "I'd like to be a physics professor!" Now that's pretty amazing!