TRIUMF and UBC’s Department of Physics and Astronomy are proud to present the 2008-09 Saturday morning lecture series on Quantum Physics and Chemistry. We especially welcome guest speakers from the UBC Chemistry Department and from Simon Fraser University to this year’s program. This lecture series will introduce the audience to the essential facts about the quantum world in a systematic and non-technical way, starting with the basics and progressing to more advanced material, at a level appropriate for high school students and members of the general public. It would be excellent enrichment for high school chemistry and physics students. There is no charge for admittance, and students are encouraged to bring friends and interested family members. Teachers and members of the public are also welcome.

Due to the popularity of the series, advance registration is required.

October 25, 2008
10am – 12pm
Prelude to quantum Mechanics: Classical wave motion – Patrick Bruskiewich
Sound waves and the physics of music – Chris Waltham

November 29, 2008
10am – 12pm
Failures of classical physics and the birth of quantum physics – Mark Van Raamsdonk
Lasers and their applications – Kirk Madison

January 17, 2009
10am – 12pm
Quantum physics II – Mark Van Raamsdonk
Quantum computers – Robert Rausendorf

February 14, 2009
10am – 12pm
Quantum chemistry: molecules and chemical bonds – Roman Krems
Quantum chemistry on a computer – Y. Alex Wang

March 28, 2009
10am – 12pm
Quantum tunneling – Patrick Bruskiewich
Quantum weirdness – Bill Unruh

April 18, 2009
10am – 12pm
Quantum mechanics and materials science – Jeff Sonier
Quantum mechanics and subatomic physics – Stanley Yen

An interesting short read from the BBC Science section talks about Stanley Miller’s chemical experiments – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7675193.stm

The BBC piece refers to the this article published a few days ago in Science –

The Miller Volcanic Spark Discharge Experiment. Adam P. Johnson, H. James Cleaves, Jason P. Dworkin, Daniel P. Glavin, Antonio Lazcano, and Jeffrey L. Bada (17 October 2008). Science 322 (5900), 404. [DOI: 10.1126/science.1161527]

** Photo by tz1_1zt’

A technology report (PDF) by a Harvard University student shows that of all the digital tools that professors use, Harvard students find most useful online course material and syllabi.

The report said students want courses to have a Web site that contains readings, notes and other content so they can be accessed easily during the semester. The survey is based on responses last December from 328 undergraduates and 120 graduate students.

Is it the same with our UBC folks? Does it ring any bells for our faculty?

** Photo by AdamLogan

Released in June 2008 by Thomson Reuters (formerly ISI), this list shows the top ten nations ranked according to output of published journal articles in 22 main fields of science (including general social sciences), based on papers indexed by Thomson Reuters (excluding books, book chapters, and articles published in non-Thomson Reuters-indexed journals) between January 1998 and February 29, 2008.

http://sciencewatch.com/dr/sci/08/jun15-08_1/

** photo by 427

The 262 new submissions received between Wednesday 1 Oct and Thursday 2 Oct, announced Friday 3 Oct 2008, brought the total number of articles on arXiv past 500,000 — all openly accessible.

There are also more than 200,000 old versions of articles which record all public revisions since 1997. If the linear increase in submission rate continues, arXiv will pass the one million article mark in 2015.

See press release for more details.

Submitted by Kevin Lindstrom Liaison Librarian for Physics and Astronomy

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is a global effort initiated by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO to help the citizens of the world rediscover their place in the Universe through the day- and night-time sky, and thereby engage a personal sense of wonder and discovery.

Check out the IYA2009 website for information about the initiative as well as additional resources and information on global IYA-sponsored projects.

Interested in Physics and Astronomy research here at UBC? Have a look at the Department of Physics Astronomy and Astrophysics website. Here you will find a full list of faculty and their areas of research.

Submitted by Kevin Lindstrom Liaison Librarian for Physics and Astronomy.

IEEE has approved six new publications for 2009.

IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine
IEEE Transactions on Autonomous Mental Development
IEEE/OSA Journal of Optical Communications and Networking
IEEE Photonics Journal
IEEE Embedded Systems Letters
IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games

Now, our faculty have even more venues to publish their research in!

Don’t forget that being a UBC faculty, student or staff you have FULL TEXT access to all IEEE publications 24*7 via the IEEE Xplore Digital Library

** Photo by Kevin Steele

The Knovel University Challenge is Back!

Enter to win a Wii, iPod Nano or Free Music starting on 9/29/08

Go to Knovel University Challenge for more information.

Posted by Kevin Lindstrom Liaison Librarian for Materials, Electrical and Computer, and Chemical Engineering

A great little article about some wotk done by Bruce Dunham and his colleagues is featured in UBC Reports last week – “Prof Improves Probability of Learning Stats”

Great to know that Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative (CWSEI) is involved!

** Photo by Martin Dee

Over the last year, our national broadcaster – CBC came with a series of podcasts called “how to think about science”

Listen to all of them here – they are more than 20 episodes – http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/science/index.html

** Photo by estherase