Saturday Physics Honors Program
Video Library
The videotapes can be checked out from the Physics library:
" What is Everything Made of?" Professor Gordon Baym, Physics.
States of matter from solids, liquids and gases to quarks,
gluons and neutron star matter. 9/24/94
" Voyage to the Center of a Neutron Star." Professor David Pines, Physics.
Introduction to neutron stars, their amazing microscopic and
macroscopic features, and a look at how astrophysicists gain
insights into them. 11/19/94
" The Collision of Quantum Mechanics with Supercomputers."
Professor Philip Phillips, Physics. Computer technology from
the abacus to quantum dots. 4/29/95
" Watching the Social Activities of Atoms." Professor Murray Gibson, Physics.
Atomic interactions and current solid state technologies such as
scanning electron microscope. 9/23/95
" Chaos: the Science of Non-Elephants." Professor David Campbell, Physics.
We see how and why some apparently simple physical systems can
undergo complex, chaotic motion, and learn the relevance for our
own hearts. 10/28/95
" No Escape from Black Holes." Professor Ed Seidel NCSA.
Introduction to special and general relativity, and to cosmological
events such as collision of galaxies, black holes and gravitational
radiation. 11/18/95
" Cosmic Collisions: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's Impact on Jupiter."
Professor Margaret Meixner, Astronomy. Where do comets come from,
review of the origin of the solar system, and many things we learn
from the impact of meteors. 1/27/96
" Never Be Lost Again: The Global Positioning System."
Professor Jeremiah Sullivan, Physics. An introduction to the
Global Positioning System, emphasizing the basic physics underlying
this new technology, and the unanticipated industry that it
has spawned. 2/24/96
" Active Mountain Building and Earthquakes." Professor Wang-Ping Chen, Geology.
An introduction to the physical processes that shape the Earth, to
plate tectonics, and to why some mountain ranges and earthquake zones
lie near one another. 2/24/96
" Severe and Unusual Weather: The Roles of Science and Technology."
Professor John Walsh, Atmospheric Science. The impact of hurricanes,
tornadoes and snow storms, nowadays and around the year 1900, are
compared and contrasted. We learn that the ability to protect lives
and property. 3/23/96
" The Birth, Life and Death of Stars." Professor James B. Kaler, Astronomy.
9/29/96
" Surfing the Waves in the Microcosmos: Using Light Waves to View the Body."
Professor Eric Wiener, Nuclear Engineering. 10/26/96
" So You Thought Computers Could Do Anything? Some Provably Unsolvable
and Infeasible Computational Problems." Professor Michael Loui,
Electrical and Computer Engineering. 10/26/96
" The Strange Fate of Cats (and Other Things) According to Quantum
Mechanics."
Professor Anthony J. Leggett, Physics. 11/16/96.
" Exotic Objects of the Cosmos: Neutron Stars, Pulsars, and Black Holes."
Professor Frederick K .Lamb, Physics. 1/25/97
" When Ash Meets Cowhide: The Physics of Baseball." Professor Alan M. Nathan,
Physics. 1/25/97
Still to come:
" My Time is NOT Your Time: Einstein's Relativity in Theory and Practice."
Professor Gary E. Gladding, Physics. 2/15/97
" Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, and Other Ways to Really See Atoms."
Professor Munir H. Nayfeh, Physics. 3/8/97
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