Nov. 2nd - A Public Talk by William D. Phillips

Time, Einstein, and the Coolest Stuff in the Universe

At the beginning of the 20th century Einstein published three revolutionary ideas that changed forever how we view Nature. Today, Einstein's thinking is shaping one of the 21st century's key scientific and technological wonders: atomic clocks, the best timekeepers ever made. Such super-accurate clocks are essential to industry, commerce, and science; they are the heart of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which guides cars, airplanes, and hikers to their destinations. Today, atomic clocks are still being improved, using Einstein's ideas to cool the atoms to incredibly low temperatures. Atomic gases reach temperatures less than a billionth of a degree above Absolute Zero, without solidifying. Such atoms enable clocks accurate to better than a second in 60 million years as well as both using and testing some of Einstein's strangest predictions. This will be a multimedia presentation, including live demonstrations and straightforward explanations about some of today's newest and most exciting science.