Physics & Engineering Festival Set for March 28
COLLEGE STATION —
It ain’t easy being green, but you’ll have two chances at seeing green next week at Texas A&M University’s 2015 Physics and Engineering Festival, to be headlined by world-renowned physicist, bestselling author and science communicator Dr. Brian Greene.
Experience the many wonders of science and technology as the featured attraction in the free, family-oriented annual extravaganza, set for Saturday (March 28), from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell ’40 Physics Building on the Texas A&M campus (click here for directions and parking information).
Ride a square-wheeled bicycle, run through a pool of cornstarch or shoot 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 bubble shows at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., as well as respective lectures at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 2 p.m. by Nobel Prize winners David Lee and Dudley Herschback and NASA astronaut and professor Dr. Gregory Chamitoff.
Watch a promotional video for the 2015 festival, courtesy of Suddenlink Communications:
The festival portion of the day will conclude with a 4 p.m. public lecture by Greene, whose national bestseller, The Elegant Universe, sold more than a million copies and became an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning NOVA special that paved the way for his revolutionary career in science communications.
As a bonus feature to this year’s festival directly tied to Greene, the Department of Physics and Astronomy is teaming up with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra to present Greene’s illustrated novella, Icarus at the Edge of Time. The mesmerizing tale narrated by Greene will mark the grand finale in a broader once-in-a-lifetime production, In a Galaxy Far, Far Away, set for 7:30 p.m. at Rudder Auditorium. Tickets, which range from $39 for general admission or $13 for students, are available online through the Memorial Student Center Box Office or via telephone at (979) 845-1234 or toll-free at (888) 890-5667. A number of free tickets will be made available to festival participants, with details soon to come via the festival website.
All events are sponsored by a Texas A&M Tier One Program (TOP) grant and hosted by the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Department of Aerospace Engineering, the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and the Texas A&M College of Science, in partnership with several other campus units, including the Departments of Chemistry, Mathematics and Atmospheric Sciences as well as the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History. In addition, BB&T (Branch Banking and Trust) Corporation has provided generous support to help underwrite Greene’s visit.
Texas A&M’s event is an affiliate festival of the 4th annual USA Science and Engineering Festival as well as a member of the Science Festival Alliance.
For more information on an exciting afternoon guaranteed to please all ages and interest levels, see the detailed press release or visit physicsfestival.tamu.edu.
Click here to read a related Q&A with Brian Greene by Houston Chronicle science writer Eric Berger.
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Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237 or shutchins@science.tamu.edu or Dr. Tatiana Erukhimova, (979) 845-5644 or etanya@physics.tamu.edu
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