Friends of ORNL opens the 15th Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series on May 24 featuring Dr. Michael Smith of ORNL who will offer a presentation on "Exploding Stars and Atom Smashers."  The lecture is free of charge and will be held at the American Museum of Science and Energy, 300 S. Tulane Avenue, Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  A reception starts at 5:30 p.m. (snacks will be served) and the lecture starts at 6:30 p.m.  This talk should be of interest to the general public, and high school science students and teachers are especially invited.

 

The night sky appears calm and peaceful ­ but it is actually peppered with energetic explosions that rip apart the stars. What causes some stars to explode, while others just fizzle out and fade away? How are stellar blasts related to the origin of the elements? Find out how we use atom smashers here on Earth - in fact, in Tennessee - to unlock these mysteries of exploding stars. Some of the bizarre effects discussed include cosmic cannibalism, thermonuclear traffic jams, and stellar alchemy.  This discussion is based on Michael Smith’s research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory sponsored by the U. S. Department of Energy.

 

Dr. Michael Smith is a Distinguished Scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he leads the Experimental Astrophysics Group. Prior to coming to ORNL, he received an undergraduate degree in Physics from the University of Chicago, a Ph.D. from Yale University, and worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. At ORNL, he leads an effort using beams of radioactive subatomic nuclei and computer simulations to study how stars explode. He also carries out research into how our Universe began in a hot Big Bang. He has won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest award given to young researchers in the United States, as well as numerous ORNL awards including Scientific Paper of the Year, Science Communicator of the Year, and Educational Champion. He has been featured on National Geographic's Naked Science TV show, the JASON science education project, and the Discovery Channel / Siemens STEM Online Academy. He has pioneered and oversees 6 online software systems and websites that enable scientists from around the world to share their research results. He is Chairman of the 1200 member user group of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, and enjoys mentoring students of all levels.

The Friends of ORNL (FORNL) held its monthly lunch-lecture meeting on Wednesday, April 18. This month Kent A. Williams, PhD spoke on ' A Walk Through the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: The Last 46 Years.' Dr. Williams is a chemical engineer who retired from ORNL in April 2010 and now a part-time consultant to the Idaho National Laboratory on fuel-cycle economics.  For a pdf of his presentation click on link in left hand column.