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Bring In the (Nano) Noise
05/27/2011

Bring In the (Nano) Noise

Marcus Woo

At the forefront of nanotechnology, researchers design miniature machines to do big jobs, from treating diseases to harnessing sunlight for energy. But as they push the limits of this technology, devices are becoming so small and sensitive that the behavior of individual atoms starts to get in the way. Now Caltech researchers have, for the first time, measured and characterized these atomic fluctuations—which cause statistical noise—in a nanoscale device. 

Experiments Settle Long-Standing Debate about Mysterious Array Formations in Nanofilms
05/17/2011

Experiments Settle Long-Standing Debate about Mysterious Array Formations in Nanofilms

Kathy Svitil

Caltech scientists have conducted experiments confirming which of three possible mechanisms is responsible for the spontaneous formation of 3-D pillar arrays in nanofilms. These protrusions appear suddenly when the surface of a molten nanofilm is exposed to an extreme temperature gradient and self-organize into hexagonal, lamellar, square, or spiral patterns. 

Stone Awarded Goddard Astronautics Award
05/16/2011

Stone Awarded Goddard Astronautics Award

Kathy Svitil

Ed Stone, the David Morrisroe Professor of Physics at Caltech and lead scientist on the Voyager 1 and Voyager deep-space probe missions since 1972, was awarded the Goddard Astronautics Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) at a gala ceremony on May 11 in Washington, DC.

Caltech Faculty Receive Early Career Grants
05/13/2011

Caltech Faculty Receive Early Career Grants

Kathy Svitil

Four Caltech faculty members are among the 65 scientists from across the nation selected to receive Early Career Research Awards from the Department of Energy. The grant winners are Guillaume Blanquart, Julia R. Greer, Chris Hirata, and Ryan Patterson. The Early Career Research Program is designed to bolster the nation's scientific workforce by providing support to exceptional researchers during the crucial early career years, when many scientists do their most formative work.

Caltech's Ed Stone Profiled in the LA Times
04/19/2011

Caltech's Ed Stone Profiled in the LA Times

Marcus Woo

In a front-page story that ran on April 14, The Los Angeles Times profiled Caltech's Ed Stone. As the mission's project scientist since 1972, Stone has been with Voyager since the beginning, and like the robot explorers, which are now venturing into interstellar space, he's still going and going.

 

Physicists Discover New Way to Visualize Warped Space and Time
04/10/2011

Physicists Discover New Way to Visualize Warped Space and Time

Marcus Woo

When black holes slam into each other, the surrounding space and time surge and undulate like a heaving sea during a storm. This warping of space and time is so complicated that physicists haven't been able to understand the details of what goes on—until now.

Caltech Math for the Win
04/01/2011

Caltech Math for the Win

Marcus Woo

March has been a good month for Caltech mathematics. Caltech placed first in the Mathematical Association of America's William Lowell Putnam Competition, one of the premier undergraduate mathematics contests. Also this past month, Michael Aschbacher, the Shaler Arthur Hanisch Professor of Mathematics, was awarded the Rolf Schock Prize in Mathematics.

ACS Honors Zewail
03/29/2011

ACS Honors Zewail

On March 29, the world's largest scientific society will bestow its highest honor on Ahmed H. Zewail, Caltech's Linus Pauling Professor of Chemistry and professor of physics.

Canadian Universities Join Consortium to Build Telescope in Chile
03/28/2011

Canadian Universities Join Consortium to Build Telescope in Chile

Lori Oliwenstein

Seven Canadian universities have joined a Caltech and Cornell University-led consortium to build CCAT, a proposed 25-meter aperture telescope. The telescope will be occupy a site 18,400 feet above sea level on Cerro Chajnantor, a mountain in Chile’s Atacama desert.

TMT Permit Approved
03/02/2011

TMT Permit Approved

Kathy Svitil

The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) got one step closer to realization this week, with the granting of a conservation district use permit by Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources. The permit gives the University of Hawai'i permission to build and operate TMT on the northern plateau of Mauna Kea; TMT will sublet the land from the University.