Texas A&M Physics & Engineering Festival Set for April 6
COLLEGE STATION
The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Texas A&M University invites audiences across Texas, the nation and even the world to get up-close and personal with science and technology at the 2019 Physics & Engineering Festival, an entertaining and informative weekend scientific extravaganza for all ages.
No fees or tickets are required for the free 17th annual event (view promotional poster online), scheduled for Saturday, April 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell ’40 Physics Building on the Texas A&M campus. (Get directions and parking information).
Ride a square-wheeled bicycle, run through a pool of cornstarch or shoot balloons with lasers — three of the more than 200 exciting, interactive exhibits and demonstrations that will be on display from 10 a.m. to 3:30 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. and 2 p.m. by NASA astronaut and Texas A&M professor Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg.
Other special events on tap include Cyclotron Institute tours, Large Hadron Collider virtual tours at noon and 1 p.m., tours of 1996 Nobel Prize-winning Texas A&M physicist Dr. David M. Lee’s laboratory, and four performances of the Low-Temperature Physics Extravaganza at 10:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Finally, a Texas-sized five-barrel depth charge with 1,000 plastic balls — and featuring the Texas A&M Yell Leaders in a nice blend of Aggie tradition and the wonders of physics — will close out the exhibition portion of the show at 3:30 p.m. on the south side the Mitchell Physics Building.
At 4 p.m., California Institute of Technology astronomer and author Dr. Michael Brown will deliver a keynote presentation, Planet Nine from Outer Space, in which he will explore his study of our solar system’s outer edges, where an undiscovered object estimated to be 5,000 times more massive than Pluto lurks as the true ninth planet waiting to be directly spotted in the very near future.
On Friday evening, University of California San Diego physicist Dr. Jérémie Palacci will deliver a 7 p.m. free public lecture, Science in the Brewery, in the second-floor primary lecture hall of the Mitchell Physics Building.
All events are hosted by Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy in partnership with several other campus units, including the Departments of Aerospace Engineering, Chemistry, Mathematics, Biology and Atmospheric Sciences as well as the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History.
All events are sponsored by the Texas A&M University System, Texas A&M Physics and Astronomy, the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, Dr. Charles R. ’62 and Judith G. Munnerlyn, ExxonMobil, the Willard and Anne Levin Foundation, Col. Hal Schade ’67, Ahmed Mahmoud ’87, Michele Mobley ’87, Susan Sheskey, Purna C. Murthy ’88, CC Creations, Schlotzsky’s College Station and Pepsi. The event is a member of the Science Festival Alliance.
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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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