Spring Break
Drexel hosts Berkeley professor
Loren McFalls
Issue date: 3/13/09 Section: News
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The Kaczmarczik Lecture Series brings outstanding scientists to Drexel to present lectures on topics currently at the cutting edge of physics research.
The lecture, called "Searching for Other Earths and Life in the Universe," discussed the hunt for Earth-like planets. During 2009, astronomers will be launching some of the first searches for Earth-like worlds around other stars.
According to Marcy, there are thousands of advanced civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy, and it is unknown why they have not yet contacted ours.
"The quest for the upcoming century is to detect intellectual life in our galaxy," Marcy said.
Some students in attendance at the event were attracted by Marcy's stature.
"I'm glad that Drexel is able to bring in such big names in their fields to share their discoveries and opinions about these interesting topics," Ravi Patel, a freshman psychology major, said.
According to freshman biology major Jason Sinclair, the topic of the lecture was also interesting to students.
"It was great for professor Marcy to visit Drexel all the way from Berkeley. He discussed topics that give insight to modern astrophysics technology," Sinclair said.
The lecture included two video clips about NASA's Kepler mission, which, according to the Drexel Digest, is designed to detect extrasolar planets that are the same size as the Earth. The shuttle was launched March 6 to look for intellectual life. Drexel will be receiving first-hand accounts from one of the key members of the NASA mission.
According to the Department of Physics web site. Marcy is also the director of Berkeley's Center for Integrative Planetary Science, which is a research group that studies the formation, geophysics, chemistry and evolution of planets. Marcy's team discovered the majority of the 250 known planets around other stars, including the first multiple-planet system, the first Saturn-mass planets, and the first Neptune-mass planet. His goal is to discover the first earth-like planets and to find other planetary systems like our own solar system.
Marcy is also an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious Shaw Prize in 2005, Discovery Magazine's Space Scientist of the Year in 2003, the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, the Carl Sagan Award, the Beatrice Tinsley Prize, and the Henry Draper Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. He is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences.
The Kaczmarczik Lecture Series was established in 1995 in honor of professor Paul Kaczmarczik. Kaczmarczik began his career at Drexel in 1953 as a professor of physics. He had a lot to do in building the Physics and Atmospheric Science Department and made many contributions to Drexel.
"[Kaczmarczik] was the absolute most wonderful teacher and [taught] always with a smile in his eye," Donna Murasko, dean of the college of Arts and Sciences, said.
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