Gates Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Published: Wednesday, July 20 2011 15:45

Professor S. James Gates was elected into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This is a well deserved honor that highlights Dr. Gates' stellar career.

"Professor Gates is just an extraordinary person," said Physics Chair Drew Baden. "His research is at the very cutting edge of theoretical physics, probing the fundamental structure of nature, looking for exotic connections between string theory and information theory and anything else he can think of. On top of that, he finds the time and energy to give a huge number of invited public talks on science at all levels, communicating the excitement of science, and working hard to demystify. I believe that in 2005, the 100 year anniversary of Einstein's famous papers (one that introduced the theory of special relativity), he gave about 90 such talks in a single year! And on top of that, he finds the time contribute to society as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), advising the President on science policy, and as a member of the Maryland Board of Education."

UMD hosting the 2012 Dynamic Days meeting

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Published: Monday, July 18 2011 10:18

UMD is hosting the 2012 Dynamic Days meeting. Updated information will be available at http://www.chaos.umd.edu/DDays2012/Home.html

Department Mourns the Loss of John S. Toll

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Published: Friday, July 15 2011 16:12

John S. Toll has passed away. It is not easy saying anything that will do justice to the warmth, intelligence, humility, generosity, and overall humanity to the single most important person in the history of this department, if not the University at large.

Debbie Toll said that John passed away peacefully in his sleep last night. There will surely be more information to come, and we will surely pass it along. Meanwhile, here's a very nice bio you can read.

http://www.aip.org/history/historymatters/toll.htm

With sadness,
Drew

                      Physicists John A. Wheeler and John S. Toll

Alessandra Buonanno Selected as 2011-2012 Radcliffe Institute Fellow

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Published: Wednesday, July 13 2011 01:00

The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University has selected Alessandra Buonanno to be a Radcliffe Institute fellow for the 2011–2012 academic year. Alessandra Buonanno joins 51 distinguished women and men at the forefront of the sciences, humanities, social sciences, arts, and professions to convene at the Institute for a full year. With only 6 percent of applicants selected to this program, Buonanno and her accomplished colleagues will focus on innovative individual projects and research while benefiting from a multidisciplinary community of fellows in the enriching University setting.

Magnetic Dynamos in the Lab

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Published: Wednesday, July 06 2011 09:26

Dan Lathrop co-authored an article with Cary Forest, University of Wisconsin, that appears in the July 2001 Issue of Physics Today. Additionally, the issue includes a single page image of 3m in the regular feature Backscatter.

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