The Triangle

Issue date: 12/3/04 Section: Sci-Tech

Media Credit: physics.uchicago.edu [Click to enlarge]

Michael Turner, of the University of Chicago and the National Science Foundation, gave the 2004 Kaczmarczik lecture "The Dark Side of the Universe: Beyond Stars and the Starstuff We Are Made Of," Dec. 1 in the Main Auditorium.

Turner discussed dark matter and dark energy, focusing on specific physicists, such as Vera Rubin and Albert Einstein, and their breakthroughs, which consisted of convincing evidence that dark matter and energy exist.

Using various images of galaxies, including some from the Hubble telescope, simple graphics and humorous analogies, he explained the basic underlying principles of the field.

These include theories that dark matter must be present as a gravitational force to hold together galaxies, as evidenced by galaxy clustering, and the reasoning that dark energy exists due to the fact that the universe appears to be speeding up.

Turner also stressed that these findings are the basis for questions to be posed and answered in the future by physics students attending the lecture.

The Kaczmarczik Lecture series, established in 1995, honors Paul Kaczmarczik, a Drexel physics professor from 1953 to 1989, when he became a professor emeritus.

In the spirit of Kaczmarczik's teaching, a renowned researcher working in an important area of physics study is selected each year to speak. In addition, on the day of the lecture, an open house is held for high school students of the Philadelphia area.

Brief talks about the various sub-disciplines of physics are given, along with a tour of Drexel's physics department labs. Approximately 300 hundred high school students attended this year's open house and lecture.

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