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McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences
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Pickled in Brine
Mars may once have been awash in water but the water was very salty
Oct. 26,
2009 -- Andrew H. Knoll, Ph.D., Fisher Professor of Natural History and professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University, will discuss the evidence for life on Mars at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in Room 300, Laboratory Sciences Building, on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis.
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O'Ceallaigh Medal winner
Cowsik receives award for 'outstanding contributions to cosmic ray physics'
Sept. 14,
2009 --
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| Cowsik |
Ramanath Cowsik, Ph.D., professor of physics and director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received the 2009 O'Ceallaigh Medal for his "outstanding contributions to cosmic ray physics." Cowsik, whose scientific contributions span over four decades, received the award during the opening ceremony of the 31st biennial International Cosmic Ray Conference, held in Lodz, Poland.
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'Absolutely irreplaceable'
Apollo 11 moon rocks still crucial 40 years later, say WUSTL researchers
July 17,
2009 --
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| Photo by Randy Korotev |
| Moon rocks from the Apollo 11 mission. |
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A lunar geochemist at Washington University in St. Louis says that there are still many answers to be gleaned from the moon rocks collected by the Apollo 11 astronauts on their historic moonwalk 40 years ago July 20. And he credits another WUSTL professor for the fact that the astronauts even collected the moon rocks in the first place. "Bringing samples back from the moon wasn't the point of the mission," says Randy Korotev, a research professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences. "It was really about politics. It took scientists like Bob Walker to bring these samples back — to show the value of them for research."
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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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Transformed speculative field into 'precision science'
World-renowned cosmologist to discuss the Big Bang in McDonnell Center lecture series
April 2,
2009 --
P. James E. Peebles, Ph.D., one of the world's foremost theoretical cosmologists who played a central role in understanding the evolution and structure of the universe, will deliver two talks April 15-16 as part of the McDonnell Distinguished Lecture Series, sponsored by Washington University's McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences.
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Can't hold a Super-TIGER down
Origin of galactic cosmic rays focus of NASA grant
Feb. 23,
2009 --
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| Courtesy photo |
| W. Robert Binns and TIGER prelaunch in Antarctica |
Astrophysicists at Washington University in St. Louis have received a five-year, $3,225,740 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to design and build Super-TIGER — a Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder — and then fly it aboard a high-altitude balloon over Antarctica to collect rare atomic particles called galactic cosmic rays. Super-TIGER's first flight in search of the origin of cosmic rays is planned for December 2012.
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New twist on 40-year-old discovery
A Newtonian system that mimics the baldness of rotating black holes
Feb. 23,
2009 --
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| Photo by Don Davis |
| Rotating black hole: one of nature's most perfect objects |
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A physicist at Washington University in St. Louis has found a new twist on a 40-year-old discovery — "the Carter constant" — about the motion of particles in the external field of a rotating black hole. Clifford M. Will, Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences, has shown that even in Newton's gravity, arrangements of masses exist whose gravitational field also admits a Carter-like constant of motion. The finding has implications for gravitational-wave astronomy, he says.
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Bringing Mars to life
Ray Arvidson to deliver inaugural Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture
Oct. 20,
2008 -- Raymond E. Arvidson, Ph.D., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor at Washington University, will deliver the inaugural Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Oct. 30 in Room 100, Brown Hall, on the university's Danforth Campus. Arvidson, who has played key roles in NASA's missions to Mars, including the current Phoenix Mars Mission, will discuss "Mars: Environments, Habitability, and Life" during the free lecture that is open to the public.
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2008 McDonnell lecture
Space scientist Flanagan to speak on Webb Telescope
March 20,
2008 --
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| Flanagan |
Kathryn Flanagan, Ph.D., senior scientist and head of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute, will deliver the 2008 McDonnell Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 27, in Room 214 Wilson Hall on the Danforth Campus at Washington University in St. Louis.
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People and the planet
Professor's video series explores all of Earth's facets
Jan. 28,
2008 --
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| Image courtesy of NASA |
| "How the Earth Works" is a boxed set of 48 30-minute video lectures developed and delivered by WUSTL's Michael E. Wysession. The lectures explore every aspect of the Earth and are designed to appeal to the curious lay public. |
Videos have been the bailiwick of rock stars at least since the days of Bob Dylan. But now they're spilling over into a new arena — academia. Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has 48 lectures on planet Earth coming out in a video format in February. It's a sort of brainiac's boxed set. Each 30-minute lecture focuses on an aspect of the Earth, from its origins and composition to its climate, orbit, pollution and relationship to human history.
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Related Information
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Media Assistance:
Diana Lutz
Senior Science Editor
dlutz@wustl.edu
(314) 935-5272
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| Contact Information |
| • | Raman Cowsik
Director, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences
(314) 935-4493 |
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Revised:
Tuesday,
Oct. 2,
2007
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