University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign College of Education Dean James Anderson, Physics Professor Nadya Mason and Chemistry Professors Nancy Makri and Kenneth Schweizer have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the oldest honor societies in the nation. Makri holds an affiliate appointment at Illinois Physics, and Schweizer received his doctoral degree from Illinois Physics.
Now, Vishveshwara and her colleagues at ICASU and Illinois Physics are putting on a virtual arts and sciences festival entitled The Illuminated Universe, featuring the work of scientists and artists. The multidisciplinary event taking place April 23 through 25, is free and open to the public, but space is limited and registration is required.
The presentations will span multiple themes, starting with “Cosmic Flights” on Friday night at 6:00 P.M. The second session’s theme, “When Art and Science Collide,” kicks off Saturday at 11 A.M. Then Saturday afternoon, the theme “Quantum Enchantment” will start at 2:00 P.M. The festival’s final theme, “Art of Life” starts Sunday at 12 P.M. (all times are in Central Daylight Time CDT). Each session will run about one-and-a-half to two hours long.
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) have developed a new mathematical model for predicting how epidemics such as COVID-19 spread. This model not only accounts for individuals’ varying biological susceptibility to infection but also their levels of social activity, which naturally change over time. Using their model, the team showed that a temporary state of collective immunity—which they termed “transient collective immunity”—emerged during the early, fast-paced stages of the epidemic. However, subsequent “waves,” or surges in the number of cases, are predicted to appear because of changing social behaviors due to pandemic fatigue or variations in imposed mitigations. Their results appeared online on April 8, 2021 in advance of publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Connections with other physics teachers are a big part of Marianna’s story. A lover of physics from her high school days and a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Physics, she got little nudges and encouragements from former teachers early in her career. Relationships with those mentors and colleagues led her to engage first with local organizations for physics teachers then with the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Her work still incorporates some of the ideas she picked up during professional meetings, conferences, and workshops. These were and are a big influence on how each piece of her teaching strategy is intentionally constructed.
The University of Chicago is launching the nation’s first quantum technology accelerator program, offering $20 million for startup companies to develop everything from unhackable internet systems and superfast computers to sensors that can detect disease on a cellular level.
Astrophysical relativistic jets can project the power of over a billion stars continuously for millions of years. But where does all the energy come from?
We report a superconducting kinetic inductance memory (SKIM) element, which can be controlled exclusively by the bias supercurrent, without involving magnetic fields and heating elements. The kinetic inductance is provided by extremely narrow nanowires or nanobridges. The SKIM is a nonvolatile memory. The device is made of two Nb Dayem bridges, and it can operate reliably up to 2.8 K. The achieved error rate is as low as one in 105. The memory element could find applications in superconducting supercomputers.
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, we point out that a nearby supernova can explain the ozone loss and thus may be the trigger for one or more late Devonian biological extinctions.
“We did not have the time to write external grants and could not rely on traditional and slow funding vehicles. Instead we are supported by philanthropic funds that enable us to use necessary supercomputer resources, which would otherwise not be accessible.” notes Swanlund Professor of Physics Nigel Goldenfeld.
“The relief of financial burden this scholarship has lifted from my family’s shoulders is truly a priceless gift, and the generosity of donors that have made this possible inspires me to want to give others this same gift of relief, security, and most of all educational opportunity, as it has done for me.”
— Sara Shahid, Engineering Physics Class of '22, EVS Scholarship recipient
Illinois Physics Professor Gordon Baym received the 2021 APS Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research. Here is a video with interviews of the exceptional scientists who were honored with Medals and Society Prizes this year. Watch Professor Baym's segment starting at 0:11:22.
This original creation explores physics through the performing arts. It is one part of a larger scope of physics-and-the-arts collaborations initiated by Illinois Physics Professor Smitha Vishveshwara.
How is antimatter stored?