Physics and Engineering Festival Set for Saturday

Make a date for free family fun and get up-close and personal with the many wonders of science and technology this weekend at the 2012 Physics and Engineering Festival, scheduled for Saturday (March 31) on the Texas A&M University campus.

No fees or tickets are required for the free annual event, which will run from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell ’40 Physics Buildings.

Attendees are invited to unleash their inner scientist aboard a square-wheeled bicycle or try their hand at generating electricity and shooting balloons with lasers — three of the roughly 100 exciting, interactive experiments that will be on display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event also will feature three fantastic bubble shows at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. by internationally acclaimed bubble artist Keith Johnson, as well as Q&A sessions at noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. with NASA astronaut Richard Linnehan and Nobel Prize winners David Lee and Dudley Herschbach.

The day will conclude with two public lectures about the universe — the first at 4 p.m. by Texas A&M astronomer Nicholas Suntzeff and the second at 7 p.m. by Carter Emmart with the American Museum of Natural History’s Rose Center for Earth and Space.

All events are sponsored by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Department of Aerospace Engineering, the Texas A&M College of Science, the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and The Association of Former Students. The event is an affiliate festival of the 2nd USA Science and Engineering Festival.

For more information on an exciting afternoon guaranteed to please kids of all ages, see the detailed press release or visit physicsfestival.tamu.edu.

-aTm-

Watch a video highlighting images from past festivals on You Tube:

Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@science.tamu.edu