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01/06/2011

The Frontiers of Physics

Marcus Woo

If your New Year's resolution is to be more organized and orderly, maybe you should take a cue from the universe. With planets, stars, and galaxies, the cosmos is surprisingly orderly—or in physics parlance, in a state of low entropy. At the time of the Big Bang, the universe had even less entropy. Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at Caltech, will examine this mystery at next week's TEDxCaltech. In separate talks, Caltech physicists Kip Thorne and John Preskill will also discuss Richard Feynman's legacy.

12/31/2010

Caltech Establishes Four Research Programs

Marcus Woo

Caltech is embarking on four research programs that intend to produce clean energy, probe the bizarre phenomena of quantum physics, understand the genetic and neural wiring behind complex behaviors, and save lives during earthquakes. To support these projects, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation recently allocated a total of $17.5 million, part of the Foundation’s $300 million commitment made to Caltech in 2001.

12/20/2010

Make Your Own Flake

Lori Oliwenstein

With little more than a plastic soda bottle, some fishing line, a sponge, and dry ice, anyone can make it snow, make it snow, make it snow...one flake at a time. So says Caltech physicist-turned-snowflake-guru Ken Libbrecht, who recently walked listeners of NPR's Science Friday through a do-it-yourself snowflake-making tutorial.

11/29/2010

Recent News on the Debate over Pluto's Planethood

Kathy Svitil

Earlier this month, Eris—the distant world first discovered by Caltech's Mike Brown and colleagues back in 2005, paving the way for the eventual demotion of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet—passed fortuitously in front of a faint star in the constellation Cetus. That passage, or occultation, allowed the first direct measurement of Eris's size.

11/17/2010

Caltech Physicists Demonstrate a Four-Fold Quantum Memory

Marcus Woo

Caltech researchers, led by William L. Valentine Professor and professor of physics H. Jeff Kimble, have made an important achievement in the field of quantum information. Their proof-of-principle experiment, in which they demonstrate quantum entanglement with a four-part system, helps pave the way toward quantum networks and quantum computers, machines much faster than conventional, silicon-based ones.

11/16/2010

p+ Shooter

The world's most expensive peashooter, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is now chewing on meatier payloads. Last week, the giant proton accelerator successfully transitioned to lead nuclei—over two hundred times as massive as the hydrogen nuclei that made up its previous diet.

11/09/2010

Eugene W. Cowan, 90

Kathy Svitil

Eugene W. "Bud" Cowan, professor of physics, emeritus, at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), passed away November 4 in Menlo Park, California. He was 90.

11/04/2010

Caltech-designed Instruments Provide New View of Primordial Galaxies

Ann Motrunich

Astronomers estimate that half of the star formation in the universe is obscured by dust—making many distant galaxies in the peak of their star-forming years essentially invisible. But now the invisible has been revealed, thanks to new instruments that can observe in the millimeter, submillimeter, and far-infrared wavelengths in which these galaxies shine.

10/20/2010

Discovering New Worlds

Marcus Woo

As a kid, Assistant Professor of Astronomy John Johnson wasn't interested in astronomy—or even science for that matter. But now, as an assistant professor of astronomy, he's discovering entirely new worlds. In an interview, he talks about the search for planets and the rapidly evolving field of exoplanet astronomy.

10/18/2010

Caltech Applied Physicist Amnon Yariv Awarded National Medal of Science

Lori Oliwenstein

Amnon Yariv, the Martin and Eileen Summerfield Professor of Applied Physics and professor of electrical engineering—a pioneer in the field of optoelectronics—has been named one of 10 recipients of the National Medal of Science, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists.

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