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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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Developing 'next generation of creative thinkers'
Free science camp for middle schoolers from traditionally underrepresented populations
June 12,
2009 --
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| WUSTL Photo Services |
| WUSTL's ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp |
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Washington University in St. Louis will host its third ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp June 14-26. The Danforth Campus will welcome 48 middle schoolers from traditionally underrepresented populations who are academically qualified, recommended by their teachers and genuinely interested in math and science. The free residential camp gives students a first-hand experience with experiments, role models and innovative programs to encourage their continued participation in math and science courses in school. A special "ExxonMobil Media Day" will be held from 9:30-11:30 a.m. June 17 at the Mallinckrodt Center, lower level. Campers will work side by side with scientists to complete an engineering challenge.
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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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Birds of a feather
Study finds particles, molecules prefer not to mix
May 4,
2009 --
In the world of small things, shape, order and orientation are surprisingly important, according to findings from a new study by chemists at Washington University in St. Louis. Lev Gelb, WUSTL associate professor of chemistry, his graduate student Brian Barnes, and postdoctoral researcher Daniel Siderius, used computer simulations to study a very simple model of molecules on surfaces, which looks a lot like the computer game "Tetris." They have found that the shapes in this model (and in the game) do a number of surprising things.
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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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Haskin honored with named feature on the Moon
WUSTL man on the Moon
Feb. 3,
2009 --
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| Haskin |
A crater on the moon has been named after the late Larry Haskin, Ph.D., who spent much of his career as a WUSTL researcher in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences.
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