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Physics
Physics is the discipline that deals with the most fundamental aspects of our universe, such as the properties of atoms, nuclei and elementary particles, the nature of the forces between them, and the collective behavior of atoms in solids, liquids and gases. It deals with the entire universe, from its birth to its ultimate fate. At the same time, physics provides the tools that help us to understand extremely complex everyday things, such as the behavior of sand piles, the strength of materials or processes in the brain. Physics developed when people realized that nature operates according to simple mathematical rules; it seeks to discover and understand those rules. Its early successes in comprehending motion, thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism provided a foundation on which other physical sciences have grown.
The faculty in the Department of Physics has close research ties with faculty in biology, chemistry, earth and planetary sciences, and mathematics, all in Arts & Sciences, as well as with researchers in the School of Engineering & Applied Science and the School of Medicine. Related centers and groups doing physics research include: the Laboratory for Ultrasonics, the Laboratory for Materials Physics, and the Laboratory for Space Sciences and the Laboratory for EXperimental AStrophysics, both associated with the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences in Arts & Sciences.
| Faculty Experts: |
Showing Physics Experts 1 through 5 of 23.
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James S. Schilling
Professor of physics in Arts & Sciences
The primary thrust of the research in Professor Schilling's group is to study the influence of high hydrostatic pressure on the superconducting, magnetic and structural properties of exotic condensed matter systems.
Expertise: high-pressure physics, high-temperature superconductors, high hydrostatic pressure, exotic condensed matter systems, diamond anvil cell, europium metal
Direct contact: 314-935-6239
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jss@wuphys.wustl.edu
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W. Robert Binns
Research Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences
W. Robert Binns' research is primarily in cosmic ray astrophysics. He and the Washington University cosmic ray group have developed scintillating optical fibers coupled to image intensified CCD cameras or multi-anode photomultiplier tubes to obtain images of charged particle tracks. He is principal ...
Expertise: cosmic ray astrophysics, Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer, CRIS, Trans-lron Galactic Element Recorder, TIGER, scintillating fiber hodoscope, isotopic abundances, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6247
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wrb@wuphys.wustl.edu
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Martin H. Israel
Professor of physics in Arts & Sciences
Israel has been involved in some of the world's most successful studies of the composition of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), highly energized atomic nuclei that shoot through space at nearly the speed of light and originate from outside our solar system. Israel and his colleagues in the Department of ...
Expertise: cosmic rays, cosmic-ray astrophysics, balloon- and satellite-borne instruments, Heavy Nuclei Experiment, High Energy Astronomy Observatory spacecraft, cosmic-ray elements, Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder experiment, …
Direct contact: (314) 935-6263
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mhi@wustl.edu
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Robert Criss
Professor of Earth & Planetary Science
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| Criss |
Criss specializes in hydrogeology, the geology of water and systems of water. Much of his work has an environmental slant. He investigates the transport of aqueous fluids in environments such as rivers, cool potable groundwater systems essential to civilization, and deeper, hotter hydrothermal systems. ...
Expertise: Geology, hydrogeology, floods, river systems, dams
Direct contact: (314) 935-7441
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criss@wustl.edu
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James H. Buckley
Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences
James Buckley specializes in astrophysical research in high-energy phenomena. His research interests include the origin of cosmic rays, gamma-ray and multiwavelength observations of active galaxies and experimental cosmology.
Expertise: Gamma-Ray, Multiwavelength Observations of Active Galaxies, Experimental Cosmology, Dark Matter Search, Origin of Cosmic Rays, Optical Astronomy, Optical Transients from AGNs and GRBs, …
Direct contact: 314-935-7607
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buckley@wustl.edu
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Showing Physics Experts 1 through 5 of 23.
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| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Physics Stories 1 through 3 of 110.
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Extremely high energy
Pinpointing origin of gamma rays from a supermassive black hole
July 2,
2009 --
An international collaboration of 390 scientists reports the discovery of an outburst of very-high-energy gamma radiation from the giant radio galaxy Messier 87 (M 87), accompanied by a strong rise of the radio flux measured from the direct vicinity of its supermassive black hole. The combined results give first experimental evidence that particles are accelerated to extremely high energies in the immediate vicinity of a supermassive black hole and then emit the observed gamma rays. The gamma rays have energies a trillion times higher than the energy of visible light. Washington University in St. Louis physicists helped coordinate this cooperative project, the results of which appear in the July 2 Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science.
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Europium discovery
New element found to be a superconductor
May 18,
2009 --
Of the 92 naturally occurring elements, add another to the list of those that are superconductors. James S. Schilling, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Mathew Debessai, Ph.D., — Schilling's doctoral student at the time — discovered that europium becomes superconducting at 1.8 K (-456 °F) and 80 GPa (790,000 atmospheres) of pressure, making it the 53rd known elemental superconductor and the 23rd at high pressure.
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Going platinum
New catalyst could boost cleaner fuel use
May 14,
2009 --
Material scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique for a bimetallic fuel cell catalyst that is efficient, robust and two-to-five times more effective than commercial catalysts. The novel technique eventually will enable a cost effective fuel cell technology, which has been waiting in the wings for decades and should give a boost for cleaner use of fuels worldwide.
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Showing Physics Stories 1 through 3 of 110.
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40-year Mystery Revisited: Newtonian System Mimics 'Baldness' of Rotating Black Holes
ScienceDaily.com
and 4 others
Feb. 24,
2009 -- WUSTL physics professor Clifford Will explains his research on an old mystery that will have implications for gravitational-wave astronomy. His article appeared in the Feb. 12 issue of Physical Review Letters.
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Diamonds show comet struck North America, scientists say
Los Angeles Times
and 1 others
Jan. 2,
2009 -- A discovery of microscopic diamonds a few feet beneath the surface of North America reveals that a comet caused a cataclysm of fire, flood and devastation nearly 13,000 years ago, scientists said. Includes comments by WUSTL physicist Tyrone Daulton.
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Head-First Slide a Heads-Up Play
The Washington Post
and 6 others
Oct. 21,
2008 -- As base runners weigh whether to slide head first or feet first during Wednesday's first game of the World Series, they might want to talk to a physicist instead of a coach. WUSTL mechanical engineering professor David Peters explains that the effectiveness of either approach is closely tied to the principles of physics and factors like a baseball player's center of gravity.
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Albert Einstein Saw The Light
Investor's Business Daily
Sept. 18,
2008 -- WUSTL physics professor Clifford Will comments on Albert Einstein's methods of thinking, his development and his contributions to science and daily life.
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Insights Into Cell Movement Likely to Aid Immune Study, Cancer Research
ScienceDaily.com
and 5 others
Jan. 9,
2008 -- WUSTL School of Medicine scientists have used yeast cells to better understand a collection of proteins associated with the formation of actin networks, which are essential to cell movement. WUSTL cell biology and physiology Professor and senior study author John Cooper, WUSTL physics professor Anders Carlsson, and Brian Galletta, a postdoctoral scholar in Cooper's lab, comment.
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Mars rover reaches rim of deep crater
Associated Press
and 90 others
Sept. 28,
2006 -- The Mars rover Opportunity reached the rim of a deep crater Wednesday after an arduous 21-month trek, marking a milestone.
Victoria crater, with its exposed walls of thickly layered rocks, is a treasure trove for scientists trying to determine whether the rocks were formed in shallow lakes, which might suggest the planet once could have been hospitable to life.
WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor and NASA scientist Ray Arvidson comments.
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Rover nears crater science trove
BBC News (UK)
and 12 others
Sept. 8,
2006 -- Nasa's robotic Mars rover Opportunity is closing in on what could be the richest scientific "treasure trove" of its mission so far.
Within the next two weeks, Opportunity should reach the rim of Victoria crater, wider and deeper than any it has visited in more than two-and-a-half years on Mars.
NASA scientist and WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Ray Arvidson comments.
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Begging a crust
Nature.com (UK)
Sept. 5,
2006 -- Article looks at the research still being done using the lunar rock brought back between 1969 and 1976, mainly by the U.S. Apollo missions.
These rocks have helped scientists to understand much of what we know about the Moon today.
WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Randy Korotev comments on new techniques being developed as this research continues.
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Astronomers sweep space for the sources of cosmic dust
Science Magazine online
Nov. 1,
2005 -- Article on new observing tools scientists can use to study interstellar dust. Astronomers know that interstellar dust illuminates the erratic deaths of stars, and it traces a direct link from stars to the birth of our solar system — and ultimately, to Earth. WUSTL physicist and cosmochemist Ernst Zinner comments.
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E=MC squared at 100
NPR: All Things Considered
Oct. 4,
2005 -- WUSTL physicist John Rigden comments on the 100th anniversary of Einstein's famous equation. He is the author of Einstein 1905: The Standard of Greatness.
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More Heat Aids Cancer Therapies
Associated Press
and 44 others
Sept. 27,
2005 -- Scientists have long thought that simple heat could increase the effectiveness of some cancer therapies. But just how much to cook the tumor and which cancers are susceptible, have stymied the field. Now, backed by tantalizing new evidence, a growing number of studies are enrolling patients in hopes of finally settling whether it's time to turn up the heat. WUSTL physicist William Straube comments. Like Duke, WUSTL has a major research program on cancer hyperthermia.
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New method developed to find exoplanets
United Press International, RedNova.com (TX)
and 3 others
Sept. 8,
2005 -- Astronomers looking for earth-like planets in other solar systems — exoplanets — now have a new field guide thanks to WUSTL earth and planetary scientists Bruce Fegley and Laura Schaefer.
The research was presented during this week's annual meeting of the Division of Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Cambridge, England.
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Scientists Release Rover Panoramic Photo
Associated Press Online, Astrobiology Magazine
and 58 others
Sept. 2,
2005 -- Scientists released the first full-color panoramic picture of the landscape taken by the rover from its lookout point, showing the rover's tracks in the dust, flat plains of the surrounding Gusev Crater region, rugged terrain dubbed "the geologic promised land" by one scientist, distant plateaus on the crater rim and more hills.
WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Ray Arvidson comments. He is deputy principal investigator of the rover mission.
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Nuclear fission occurring naturally in Oklo region of West Africa
CBS News - The Osgood File
May 25,
2005 -- In 1972, French scientists looking for new uranium sources stumbled on a two-billion-year-old underground deposit in the Oklo region of West Africa. But what really amazed them was that this uranium, without manmade intervention, had already undergone fission, the way a nuclear reaction would process uranium today. Physics professor Charles Hohenberg and his colleagues at WUSTL wondered how this nuclear fission could have occurred and not destroyed everything in its path
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Mapping life on Earth could predict finding it on Mars
Universe Today Online
and 2 others
May 12,
2005 -- WUSTL geologist Carrine Blank is developing techniques that will help understand how early life developed and diverged here on Earth, to help predict where and what form it might take on Mars. Carrine Blank has traced the genetic relationships between different classes of bacteria, and determined when they broke away from each other to evolve into distinct organisms. These patterns of divergence have happened in several places on Earth, so it's possible they happened on Mars too.
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Unexpectedly, the mars rovers are still going strong
New York Times
March 22,
2005 -- Nearly a year past its planned three-month lifetime, the Mars rover Spirit has found itself rejuvenated and is now making some of its most significant discoveries about Mars' waterlogged past.
Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, on the other side of Mars, have continued working so well that managers have requested that the mission be extended up to another 18 months.
WUSTL earth and planetary sciences professor Ray Arvidson comments. He is a member of the NASA science team.
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Nature's nuclear reactor
Discover Magazine
Feb. 4,
2005 -- It took humans until the 20th century to build a nuclear reactor. Mother Nature, on the other hand, built one that turned itself off and on, stored its waste, never threatened a meltdown—and did it 2 billion years ago. WUSTL scientist Alexander Meshik and his colleagues conclude that river water trickling into uranium-rich bedrock acted like the control rods in a modern reactor, increasing the efficiency of fission and causing the uranium to produce a chain reaction. The reaction released heat that boiled the water. Once all the water was gone, the fission fizzled out, preventing a meltdown. Gradually, more water trickled in and the process started anew.
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NASA sends first Genesis early-science sample to researchers
PhysOrg.com (Virginia), Spaceflight Now (Florida)
and 7 others
Jan. 28,
2005 -- NASA scientists have sent to academic researchers an unprecedented piece of the sun gathered by the Genesis spacecraft, enabling the start of studies to achieve the mission's initial science objectives.
A piece of polished aluminum collector was sent to WUSTL researchers Charles Hohenberg and Alex Meshik. They will study the sample to try to determine detailed information about the gases that make up the sun.
The WUSTL study is the first of two scientific objectives that make up the initial research program planned for Genesis. The other early science objective involves studies of nitrogen from samples.
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It's a new year ? naturally
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
and 21 others
Jan. 6,
2005 -- Among all the divisions of time, only the year and the day are determined by nature -- specifically, by the movement of heavenly bodies.
All of the other measurements, from the minute to the millennium, are manmade and arbitrary. Given our 10 fingers, 60 may seem like an odd system. But it has some advantages. "My guess is that they used 60 because it's so easy to divide," says Michael Friedlander, who teachers physics and astronomy at Washington University.
Turns out that 60 is the smallest number that can be evenly divided by two, three, four, five and six. "Dividing by 10 involves knowledge about decimal notation," says Friedlander, the author of a college text on astronomy. "So in some ways, 60 is easier to manipulate."
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