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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.
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Showing Physics Experts 1 through 5 of 21.
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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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Alexander Meshik
Research professor of physics in Arts & Sciences
Meshik is the lead author of a study in the Oct. 19, 2007, issue of Science on the analysis of solar wind noble gases (neon and argon) from NASA's Genesis Mission. Meshik and colleagues will next study the solar wind samples for xenon and krypton. Meshik also analyzed the isotopic structure of noble ...
Expertise: Geochemistry, Geochronology, Nuclear Chemistry, Xenon, Krypton, solar wind, noble gases, …
Direct contact: 314-935-5049
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am@wustl.edu
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John McCarthy
Professor of Mathematics
John McCarthy's field is a kind of analysis called operator theory, which he defines as the study of matrices in infinite dimensional space. It is most directly linked to quantum mechanics, a physics theory involving elementary particles such as the electron that predicts the outcomes of physical ...
Expertise: mathematics, pure mathematics, operator theory, quantum mechanics
Direct contact: (314) 935-6753
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mccarthy@wustl.edu
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James G. Miller
Albert Gordon Hill Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences
Professor Miller's research focuses on the physics of anisotropic, inherently inhomogeneous media. These systematic studies of the anisotropic properties of the heart have led to fundamentally new insights. In 1998 the National Institutes of Health grant supporting this research was awarded MERIT status, ...
Expertise: physics of anisotropic, inherently inhomogeneous media, anisotropic properties of the heart, diagnostic images of hearts, echocardiographic imagers
Direct contact: (314) 935-6229
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james.g.miller@wustl.edu
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Ronald S. Indeck
DAS Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering
Indeck earned his doctorate from the University of Minnesota. His research involves magnetic and optical components and systems, especially in the areas of information technology and security. He is working with extremely high density magnetic recording systems, fast searching of massive databases, ...
Expertise: object verification, public surveillance, magnetic information storage systems, magnetism
Media assistance: (314) 935-5272 / tony_fitzpatrick@wustl.edu
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Showing Physics Experts 1 through 5 of 21.
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| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Physics Stories 1 through 3 of 80.
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All shook up
Midwest now worries about a different fault
April 24,
2008 -- Two seismologists at Washington University in St. Louis think the New Madrid Fault may have seen its day and the Wabash Fault is the new kid on the block. "I think everyone's interested in the Wabash Valley Fault because a lot of the attention has been on the New Madrid Fault, but the Wabash Valley Fault could be the more dangerous one, at least for St. Louis and Illinois," said Doug Wiens, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences. "The strongest earthquakes in the last few years have come from the Wabash Valley Fault, which needs more investigation."
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In the mix
Research aims to produce energy on the farm
April 15,
2008 --
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| David Kilper/WUSTL Photo |
| Muthanna Al-Dahhan (left) and graduate student Rajneesh Varma are researching effective ways to take agricultural waste and make biofuel out of it. |
Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis, using an impressive array of imaging and tracking technologies, have determined the importance of mixing in anaerobic digesters for bioenergy production and animal and farm wastes treatment. They are studying ways to take "the smell of money," as farmers long have termed manure's odor, and produce biogas from it.
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Ignoring 'geologic reality'
Geologist decries floodplain development
April 1,
2008 --
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| Photo courtesy of USGS |
| Levees are not infalliable. |
Midwesterners have to be wondering: Will April be the cruelest month? Patterns in the Midwest this spring are eerily reminiscent of 1993 and 1994, back-to-back years of serious flooding. Parallels this year include abnormally high levels of precipitation in late winter and early spring, early flooding in various regions, and record amounts of snow in states upstream. One thing Midwesterners have not learned is "geologic reality," says Robert E. Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
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Showing Physics Stories 1 through 3 of 80.
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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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