11-11-04
Astronomy Open House Night Addresses Einstein's Theory of Relativity
On Thursday, December 2, Jonathan Hall, instructor in physics at Penn State Behrend, will lecture on "Einstein and Relativity for Everyone" as a preview to the World Year in Physics 2005 celebration. The lecture will be held in the Otto Behrend Science Building, room 101, at 7:30 p.m. It is free and open to the public.
In 1905, Albert Einstein, a young, unknown, technical expert employed by the Swiss Patent Office, published five papers that profoundly changed our understanding of matter, light, space, and time. The 1905 centennial is being celebrated with events around the globe known as World Year in Physics 2005.
"'Einstein and Relativity for Everyone' will include what led Einstein to figure out that space and time depends on your motion, the consequences of special relativity for space travel (you can take a high speed trip that lasts five years, and when you come back, everyone on Earth is fifty years older than when you left!), and a computer simulation of what cars and spaceships would look like if they zoomed past you at close to the speed of light," said Hall.
Hall's teaching career started in 1977 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malaysia. He received his M.S. in physics education from Westchester College in 1985. Hall's lecture is suitable for a non-technical audience. Astronomical observing at the Mehalso Observatory will follow the lecture, weather permitting. For more information call the School of Science at 814-898-6105.
For more information on the World Year in Physics 2005, visit the web site http://physics2005.org/.
Media Contact: Jen Town, 814-898-6522, jlt234@psu.edu