Kenyon Home » Departments & Programs » Physics » Calendar of Events » Colloquium Series Archive » Spring 2004

Spring 2004

Week 1 - January 19 - 23

Monday, January 19

First day of classes for Spring Semester.

Friday, January 23, 12PM - 1PM

Physics Lunch. (Not the usual location, but close!) Bring your lunch tray to Lower Dempsey to join the department for stimulating conversation.

Friday, January 23, 3:10PM - 4:00PM

Physics Colloquium (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, RBH 109)
Professor Chris Hammel, Ohio Eminent Scholar in Experimental
Physics, The Ohio State University. " Force-Detected Scanned Probe Magnetic Resonance Microscopy" Abstract: Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy (MRFM) is a novel scanned probe technique that combines the three-dimensional imaging capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the high sensitivity and resolution of atomic force microscopy (AFM). This emerging technology holds clear potential single electron spin sensitivity. When fully realized, MRFM will provide a unique method for non-destructive, chemically specific, subsurface imaging---with applicability to a wide variety of materials. I will outline the MRFM technique and review results to date spanning applications of MRFM to nuclear spin, electron spin, and ferromagnetic resonance. Reception to follow in Hayes Hall Lobby.

Week 2 - January 26 - 30

Friday, January 30, 12PM - 1PM

Physics Lunch. Bring your lunch tray to Dempsey Lounge (the room behind the partition at the south end of Lower Dempsey Dining Room) to join the department for stimulating conversation.

Friday, January 30, 3:10PM - 4:00PM

Physics Colloquium (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, RBH 109)
Professor Emeritus Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr., Kenyon College. "The First Fifty Years of Photography" Abstract: The first fifty years of photography, starting with the announcements of the Daguerreotype and Calotype processes in 1839, saw an outpouring of inventive genius comparable to the introduction of digital photography in the nineteen nineties. This talk will start with the Daguerreotype, move on to the early positive/negative processes and then address the tintype, a form of photography invented by Prof. Hamilton Smith of Kenyon College in 1854. It will conclude with stereoscopic imagery, first proposed by Charles Wheatstone in 1837 and practiced today by the speaker. Examples of Daguerreotypes, tintypes and stereoscopic views will be on display, and the talk will be illustrated with lantern slides. Reception to follow in Hayes Hall Lobby.

Week 3 - February 2 - 6

Friday, February 6, 12PM - 1PM

Physics Lunch. Bring your lunch tray to Dempsey Lounge (the room behind the partition at the south end of Lower Dempsey Dining Room) to join the department for stimulating conversation.

Friday, February 6, 3:10PM - 4:00PM

Physics Colloquium (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, RBH 109)
Professor Emeritus Franklin Miller, Jr. Kenyon College. "Two kinds of electrons??" Abstract: In the late 1920s physicists faced the possibility that two kinds of electrons, nearly identical, exist in nature. The ratio of charge to mass ( e/m ) measured spectroscopically by the Zeeman effect was significantly larger than the value measured by the classical magnetic deflection method for free electrons. Likewise the magnitude of the charge ( e ) measured by diffraction of x-rays by a crystal was significantly larger than the value for free electrons measured by the Millikan oil-drop method. We will consider these experiments in detail and tell how the discrepancies were resolved. Reception to follow in Hayes Hall Lobby.

Week 4 - February 9 - 13

Friday, February 13, 12PM - 1PM

Physics Lunch. Bring your lunch tray to Upper Dempsey (not the usual location, but close!) to join the department for stimulating conversation.

Week 5 - February 16 - 20

Monday, February 16, 4:10PM - 5:00PM

Visiting Assistant Professor Candidate Research Presentation (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, Hayes 109) Dr. Sandra Doty, Ohio State Unversity , "What is an ERG and why should you care?" Abstract: Almost everyone is familiar with an EKG (now known as an ECG) and has some idea of its use. In contrast few have even heard of, much less know anything about the eye's equivalent to an ECG — the ERG. So, what is an ERG? How is it obtained? How is it used? More importantly, why should you — or anyone — care? In this talk I will provide a short introduction to the flash electroretinogram (ERG) and its use in vision research. I will specifically address how basic signal analysis of the ERG was used to aid in elucidating the role of aspartate aminotransferase in the metabolic function of the rat retina and the role a physicist can play in a biomedical lab. Reception to follow in Hayes Hall Lobby.

Tuesday, February 17, 11:10AM - 12:00N

Visiting Assistant Professor Candidate Mock Class (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, Hayes 109) Dr. Sandra Doty, Ohio State Unversity "Angular Momentum"

Thursday, February 19, 4:10PM - 5:00PM

Visiting Assistant Professor Candidate Mock Class (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, Hayes 109) Dr. Christopher LaSota, Muskingum College "Angular Momentum"

Friday, February 20, 12PM - 1PM

Physics Lunch. Bring your lunch tray to Dempsey Lounge (the room behind the partition at the south end of Lower Dempsey Dining Room) to join the department for stimulating conversation.

Friday, February 20, 3:10PM - 4:00PM

Visiting Assistant Professor Candidate Research Presentation (Franklin Miller, Jr. Lecture Hall, Hayes 109) Dr. Christopher LaSota, Muskingum College , "A Novel Method for Modeling Biological Development Using Discrete-State Automata Networks" Abstract: Early attempts by Turing, von Neumann and others to model biological development were based on cellular automata systems. Although such models have had limited success in reproducing pigmentation patterns seen in living organisms, they have not been able to mimic the growth of a single eukaryote cell into a multi-cellular and differentiated adult form. A view gaining support in developmental biology is that much of the self-organized complexity seen in living organisms is a natural consequence of the dynamic structure of genetic regulatory networks. This talk will present a method for incorporating models of these gene networks into cellar automata systems and will introduce an alternative approach for analyzing cellular automata activity that focuses on dynamic pathways rather than on the individual states of each cell in the model. Reception to follow in Hayes Hall Lobby.