Public Lectures

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, is the world’s most energetic laser system. NIF is capable of producing over 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of ultraviolet light, 100 times more than any other operating laser. By concentrating intense laser energy into targets only millimeters in length, NIF can, for the first time, produce conditions emulating those found in planetary interiors and stellar environments and creating fusion energy to power our future. The extreme conditions of energy density, pressure, and temperature will enable scientists to pursue fundamental science experiments designed to address a range of scientific questions, from observing new states of matter to exploring the origin of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays. This talk will describe the unprecedented experimental capabilities of the NIF, its role in strategic security and fundamental science, and the pathway to achieving fusion ignition to create a clean and secure energy future.

We can set foot on faraway planets, in a sense, by exploring the world beneath our
feet. Underground caves provide unique insights into what we might find beneath
alien landscapes. We are studying caves on Earth to understand how they
form, the spectacular minerals they produce, and the unusual creatures – from
microbes to vertebrates – that thrive in them.

By understanding the caves of our own planet, we can use them as models for the
subsurfaces of other planets. This work provides insights into the lava tubes
on celestial bodies including Mars and our Moon, as well as possible dissolved
caves on Titan, which orbits Saturn. There are many possibilities surrounding
cave formation on practically every type of object in the Solar System.

Some of the most extreme cave environments on Earth are inhabited by an amazing array
of microorganisms. Some of these creatures eat their way through bedrock,
some live in hyperacid conditions, some produce unusual biominerals and rare
cave formations, and many produce compounds of potential pharmaceutical and
industrial significance. We study these unique organisms and the physical
and chemical biosignatures they leave behind. Such traces can be
used to provide a “Field Guide to Unknown Organisms” for developing life-detection
space missions. Additionally, the lava tubes clearly present on Mars
and the Moon can provide the basis for future human habitations on those
planets.

Nearly a century after their discovery, black holes remain one of the most striking, and problematic predictions of general relativity. Even more unsettling is the fact that they actually appear to exist! With only a handful of exceptions, every galaxy contains a supermassive behemoth, millions to billions as massive as the sun, at their center. These supermassive black holes are hardly incidental, they gravitationally power enormous outflows that rule the fates of their hosts. Despite the critical role they play in our understanding of gravity and impact upon the visible universe, actually testing their nature has remained beyond our reach - until now. Dr. Broderick will describe how astronomers are currently constructing (and operating) facilities that will image the horizons of black holes, and what we can already say about these enigmatic monsters in the dark.

While quantum mechanics is an immensely powerful and precise theory which seems to describe everything in the world, its insistence on only predicting what happens when we make "measurements" has left scientists and philosophers alike puzzled - as David Mermin summarized one of Einstein's concerns, "Is the moon there when nobody looks?" Dr. Steinberg will talk about some of the new ideas revolutionizing our view of quantum measurement, in particular the surprising advantages of measuring things "weakly" and suggest that new hints may be emerging about how we should think about Einstein's moon.

Based on her book, The Calculus Diaries, join, Jennifer Ouellette as she shows how calculus can be applied to everything from gas mileage, diet, the rides at Disneyland, surfing in Hawaii, shooting craps in Vegas and warding off zombies.  Even the mathematically challenged, can-and-should learn the fundamentals of the universal language.