Out of Gas - The End of the Age of Oil
David Goodstein California Institute of Technology
Thu Jan 12, 02-03:30pm, 4-370
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
The world will start to run out of cheap, conventionally-produced oil much sooner than most people expect, possibly within this decade. This talk will discuss the reasoning that leads to that conclusion and the likely consequences if it is correct. It may be possible, with considerable difficulty, to substitute other fossil fuels for the missing oil, but if we do that we may do irreparable damage to Earth's climate. And even then we would start to run out of all fossil fuels, including coal, probably within this century. Can civilization survive if that happens? We will consider the possibilities.
Web: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~dg/
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, x3-8101, rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu
Cosponsor: Plasma Science and Fusion Center
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: a The History of the Universe in One Hour
Max Tegmark
Mon Jan 9, 01:30-02:30pm, 32-123
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
With a cosmic flight simulator, we'll take a scenic journey through space and time. After exploring our local Galactic neighborhood, we'll travel 13.7 billion years back to explore the Big Bang itself and how state-of-the-art measurements are transforming our understanding of our cosmic origin and ultimate fate. If you have questions about dark matter, dark energy, black holes, parallel universes or other things cosmological, this will be a great opportunity to ask them!
Contact: Ray Ashoori, 13-2053, ashoori@mit.edu
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: b Zero is Ruled Out. Neutrino Mass and its Consequences
Joe Formaggio
Wed Jan 11, 01:30-02:30pm, 32-123
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
An astonishing culmination of discoveries taking place over the last decade has led to a revolution in our understanding of neutrinos –one of nature’s most elusive particles. Originally proposed by Wolfgang Pauli in 1930 as a “desperate remedy” to save the law of conservation of energy, these chargeless, weakly-interacting, and (nearly) massless particles that permeate throughout the cosmos have been challenging our understanding of particle physics. During my talk, I will discuss the implications that come from a massive neutrino, and the current experimental efforts devoted to measuring neutrino mass.
Contact: Ray Ashoori, 13-2053, ashoori@mit.edu
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: c Out of Gas - The End of the Age of Oil
David Goodstein
Thu Jan 12, 02-03:30pm, 4-370
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
The world will start to run out of cheap, conventionally-produced oil much sooner than most people expect, possibly within this decade. This talk will discuss the reasoning that leads to that conclusion and the likely consequences if it is correct. It may be possible, with considerable difficulty, to substitute other fossil fuels for the missing oil, but if we do that we may do irreparable damage to Earth's climate. And even then we would start to run out of all fossil fuels, including coal, probably within this century. Can civilization survive if that happens? We will consider the possibilities.
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, 253-8101, rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu
Cosponsor: Plasma Science and Fusion Center
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: e Working on Wall Street
Scott McDermott
Fri Jan 20, 01:30-02:30pm, 32-123
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Scott McDermott, managing director at Goldman Sachs and an alumni of MIT’s physics department, will speak about his perceptions of what physics graduates can offer the financial services industry. Wall Street, hedge funds, investment management, mortgage finance, and consumer lending are all areas where physics training can be helpful in solving business problems. Scott will give some examples of where physicists have been successful in the financial services industry, and describe some of the roles that newly-hired physics students might play. More practically, Scott has been active in recruiting MIT students and physics students generally to his firm, and will give his opinions about what financial services recruiters are looking for in a candidate, and how physics students might prepare for their interviews.
Contact: Ray Ashoori, 13-2053, 253-5585, ashoori@mit.edu
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: f Photonic Crystals and Optical "Circuitry"
Marin Soljacic
Wed Jan 18, 01:30-02:30pm, 32-123
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
In recent years, photonic crystals have caused a revolution in the field of nano-photonics: they enable unprecedented control and manipulation of light at scales smaller than the wavelength of light.
In addition to novel and fascinating physics, their properties also enable implementation of miniature optical logic elements that operate at frequencies much larger than electronic logic, with very important applications for next-generation telecomm, personal computing, etc.
Contact: Marin Soljacic, 12-112, 253-2467, marin@alum.mit.edu
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: g The ABC of Making a Space Experiment - A Real Experience
Ulrich Becker
Thu Jan 19, 01:30-02:30pm, 32-123
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Anti-matter, also Alligators
Bureaucracy NASA
Cosmic considerations
Dark or strange matter
(All invited! Few formulas)
Contact: Ulrich Becker, 44-123B, 253-5822, becker@MITLNS.MIT.EDU
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Physics Lectures for the General MIT Community: 6Physics in Search of Oil and Gas
Martin G. Lüling , Schlumberger
Thu Feb 2, 01:30-02:30pm, 32-123
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
The search for oil and gas uses different physical measurements to determine the spatial distribution of these materials with high measurement accuracy and good spatial resolution. This presentation offers a historic review of the evolution of such measurement methods, followed by a comprehensive discussion of present measurement technologies and their impact on the oil and gas production. Directional drilling directly benefits from real-time measurements that permit to steer a horizontal well into target zones full of oil and gas up to 10 km away. Future developments foresee more environmentally responsible intervention, such as the sequestering and storage of carbon dioxide to reduce atmospheric warming.
Contact: Maria Riefstahl, 4-352, x3-4461, maria@MIT.EDU
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The Feynman Films
Markos Hankin
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
Prereq: None
This series of films by Richard Feynman is open to the MIT community.
Contact: Markos Hankin, 4-309, 253-4844, mhankin@mit.edu
The Law of Gravitation
Markos Hankin
Mon Jan 9, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
The Best Mind Since Einstein
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 11, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
The Relation of Mathematics to Physics
Markos Hankin
Thu Jan 12, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
The Great Conservation Principles
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 18, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
Symmetry in Physical Law
Markos Hankin
Thu Jan 19, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
The Last Journey of a Genius
Markos Hankin
Fri Jan 20, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
Take the World from Another Point of View
Markos Hankin
Mon Jan 23, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
The Distinction of Past and Future
Markos Hankin
Wed Jan 25, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
Probability and Uncertainty
Markos Hankin
Thu Jan 26, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
Seeking New Laws
Markos Hankin
Fri Jan 27, 12-01:00pm, 32-123
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