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Guest speakers, researchers and University of California faculty explore physics to better understand and predict the world around us.
58 Episodes
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How much do we really know about the quantum nature of space and time, the origins of the universe itself, and its most mysterious phenomena - black holes? In this program, Clifford Johnson, professor of physics at UC Santa Barbara, explains why understanding the laws of physics helps explain how the world around us works, and can fuel our imaginations to dream, invent, and create. Johnson works to engage the general public with scientific ideas, through many media outlets, including the entertainment industry. He has been a science advisor for many movies and TV shows. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 40084]
The 2023 Kyoto Prize Laureate in Basic Sciences, Professor Elliott Lieb presents snapshots of his seventy-year journey through the world of science, first as a would-be engineer, then as a physicist and later as a mathematician and a mathematical physicist. In many encounters with colleagues in different areas of research he learned that mathematics and a mathematical perspective can be pivotal in developing our thinking about physics. This fundamental connection between mathematics and physics was not always accepted at the beginning of my career, and it was even vigorously denied by some mathematicians and physicists. Lieb mentions some of his work to illustrate the value of mathematical physics for theoretical physics and to pure mathematics, the first being the Polaron bound found with K. Yamazaki in Kyoto in 1957. Another is the "ice problem", where he calculated the number of ways to color a chess board with only three colors so that neighboring squares never have the same color. Series: "Kyoto Prize Symposium" [Science] [Show ID: 39424]
Nobel Laureate and physicist Barry Barish, professor at UC Riverside, reflects on his life in science, being curious, experiencing imposter syndrome, and working in the field of physics with Brian Keating, host of the "Into the Impossible" podcast and professor of physics at UC San Diego. [Humanities] [Science] [Show ID: 38727]
Carver Mead is a pioneer of modern microelectronics. He proposed a new methodology, very large-scale integration (VLSI), that would make it possible for creating millions or billions of transistors on a single integrated circuit (microchip). His research investigated techniques for VLSI, designing and creating high-complexity microchips. This design process has advanced electronic technologies and transformed the lives of most of the people inhabiting our planet. Mead also paved the way to VLSI design automation and facilitating the revolutionary development of today's VLSI-based electronics and industry. For his work and contributions, Mead was awarded the 2022 Kyoto Prize in Advanced Technology. In his talk entitled, "Engineering Concepts Clarify Physical Law" Mead will discuss a simplified theory that might serve as an entry point for further development by generations of young people who feel disenfranchised by the existing establishment. Series: "Computer Science Channel" [Science] [Show ID: 38572]
The American Physical Society has designated UC San Diego’s Mayer Hall as a historic site in recognition of research conducted by physicists Walter Kohn and Lu Jeu Sham on density functional theory. Their development of the "Kohn-Sham equation" inside Mayer Hall became the foundation for the computation of the material properties of electrons and nuclei. Understanding the electronic properties of complex systems is essential to the design and engineering of new materials and drugs. Kohn and Pierre Hohenberg on sabbatical in Paris developed a theorem for the electron ground state energy to depend on the electron density distribution instead of the usual potential energy due to the nuclei. In Building C (later named Mayer Hall), from 1964-66, Kohn and Sham laid the foundation of a computation method, based on a single-particle equation composed of its quantum kinetic energy and the potential energy including the interaction effects. [Science] [Show ID: 38313]
The International System of Units (the SI), the modern metric system, has recently undergone its most revolutionary change since its origins during the French Revolution. The nature of this revolution is that all of the base units of the SI are now defined by fixing values of natural constants. Our measurement system is now, both philosophically and practically, strongly quantum. Nobel Prize recipient William Phillips, Ph.D., a Distinguished University and College Park Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, talks about why this reform was needed and how it is done. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 37728]
At the beginning of the 20th century, Einstein changed the way we think about time. Now, early in the 21st century, the measurement of time is being revolutionized by the ability to cool a gas of atoms to temperatures millions of times lower than any naturally occurring temperature in the universe. Nobel Prize recipient William Phillips, Ph.D., a Distinguished University and College Park Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, talks about laser cooling and ultracold atoms and how they relate to time.
Atomic clocks, the best timekeepers ever made, are one of the scientific and technological wonders of modern life. Such super-accurate clocks are essential to industry, commerce, and science; they are the heart of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which guides cars, airplanes, and hikers to their destinations. Today, the best primary atomic clocks use ultracold atoms. Series: "UC Berkeley Graduate Lectures" [Science] [Show ID: 37727]
Julio Barreiro Guerrero grew up in a public housing project in Acapulco de Juarez. Inspired by a junior high teacher, he found his passion for science. Through hard work and focus he found himself the recipient of scholarships that opened up a world of opportunity in physics. Today, he runs a lab at UC San Diego focused on quantum science and technology. He shares his story and a message of inspiration for young scholars starting on their academic journeys. Series: "Education Channel" [Science] [Education] [Show ID: 36430]
Victor Minces teaches the science of music. He seeks to transform our perception of everyday experiences by revealing the physics behind them. Through his program, Listening to Waves, he works to make science accessible to all and imbue creativity in the scientific process. Hear his perspectives on teaching, arts education and more in this engaging conversation. Series: "Education Channel" [Science] [Arts and Music] [Education] [Show ID: 37090]
Proteins are nature’s machines, performing tasks from transforming sunlight into useable energy to binding oxygen for transport through the body. These functions depend on structural arrangement of atoms within the protein, which was, until recently, only possible to measure statistically, in easily crystallized samples via conventional X-ray diffraction. In the past decade, X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs), a new type of X-ray source, have begun to come online. Using ultra-bright, ultrafast X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, this technology allows us to measure not only static pictures of protein structure but to record “molecular movies” of proteins in action. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 33432]
Particle accelerators have been revolutionizing discoveries in science, medicine, industry and national security for over a century. An estimated 30,000 particle accelerators are currently active around the world. In these machines, electromagnetic fields accelerate charged particles, such as electrons, protons, ions or positrons to velocities nearing the speed of light. Although their scientific appeal will remain evident for many decades, one limitation of the current generation of particle accelerators is their tremendous size, typically a mile long, and cost, which often limits access to the broader scientific community. Acceleration of electrons in plasmas, in particular in laser-driven plasmas, has been drawing considerable attention over the past decade. These laser wakefield accelerators promise to dramatically reduces the size of accelerators and revolutionize applications in medicine, industry, and basic sciences. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 33429]
Do complex systems exhibit fundamental properties? This talk looks at tradeoffs between robustness and fragility that occur in biological, ecological, and technological systems that are driven by design, evolution, or other sorting processes to high-performance states which are also tolerant to uncertainty in the environment and components. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 32758]
Lakshana Huddar, Berkeley: How to Build an Advanced Nuclear Reactor in a University Laboratory Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 31079]
Tianyu Liu, Santa Cruz: Enhancing the Performance of Supercapacitors Through Facilitation of Ion Diffusion Series: "Women in Science" [Science] [Show ID: 31080]
The 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson completes a powerful and comprehensive description of nature known as the standard model of particle physics. The next step is to find the new physics that underpins this model, which many physicists believe could solve mysteries first seen in astrophysical and cosmological data, such as dark matter and neutrino mixing. Joseph Incandela, UCSB Professor of Physics, gives a general overview of where things stand and what’s being planned, including his own research plans to address very fundamental questions about the universe. Series: "Scientific Horizons" [Science] [Show ID: 31621]
The National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is the world's largest and most powerful laser system. Experimental physicist Tammy Ma explores how and why scientists and engineers are working hard to demonstrate sustainable fusion burn - the same reaction that occurs in the sun - to one day harness as a source of limitless, clean energy. Series: "Lawrence Livermore National Lab Science on Saturday" [Science] [Show ID: 31523]
A simple question from his wife – Does physics really allow people to travel back in time? – propelled physicist Richard Muller on a quest to resolve a fundamental problem that had puzzled him throughout his 45-year career: Why does the arrow of time flow inexorably toward the future, constantly creating new "nows"? Series: "UC Berkeley News" [Science] [Show ID: 31548]
A brief overview of how UC San Diego scientists are leading the next revolution in biology. Series: "UCTV Prime" [Science] [Show ID: 30564]
Explore the dust between the stars - and why it is so important, see how researchers explore molecules on the nanoscale to improve materials, discover why natural extremes are critical to Mediterranean ecosystems, the fate of California Oak trees, and sustaining the heritage of agriculture in California, all on this edition of On Beyond. Series: "On Beyond" [Science] [Show ID: 30667]
Joseph Polchinski explores the battle in physics: either quantum mechanics must break down, or our understanding of spacetime must be wrong. The latest is the ‘firewall’ paradox: if quantum mechanics is to be saved, then an astronaut falling into a black hole will have an experience very different from what Einstein’s theory predicts. This has led to many new ideas that may lead to the unification of these two great theories. Series: "GRIT Talks" [Science] [Show ID: 30519]
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