Cool links: 2002

The 2002-2003 Collegium da Vinci series also includes a free public lecture on Sept. 29, 2002. This lecture will feature James Randi, author of the 1995 book, An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. Randi will present an entertaining overview demonstrating how science has pursued magic and miracles in the 20th century and into the 21st century in a lecture titled “The Search for the Chimera.”

Search for the Chimera
An Overview of How Science Has Pursued Magic and Miracles in the 20th Century and Into the 21st Century

James Randi exposes popularly-accepted fakery by discussing with his audience everything from UFOs to the Bermuda Triangle, from the Von Däniken "Chariots of the Gods" fraud to the notion of a lost continent named Atlantis. Randi reveals what really took place in the last three decades in the labs of various prestigious "think tanks" that verified a series of simple magicians tricks as genuine miracles, thus launching a world-wide plague of misinformation, the repercussions of which can still be felt today.

This unique and provocative lecture is not only educational but also highly entertaining. It attracts persons of all educational and social backgrounds and provides a rational perspective on the seemingly paranormal and otherwise unexplained happenings in our day-to-day life.

Mr. Randi illustrates how a "politically-correct" attitude has blinded scientists — who should know better — to the fact that they are not proficient at detecting fraud, often managing to fool themselves, when the prize is sufficiently attractive. And he puts up a million-dollar award as bait!

NSF/DOE Review (Dec. 2001):

Fred Olness' presentation:  PDF  Format  (1.8 MB)   or PPT Source  (gzip format 2.0 MB)

Darren Carollo' presentation:  PDF  Format  (xxx MB)   or PPT Source  (gzip format XXX MB)    (under constrution)

Lectures from the Workshop 2001: Held 4-15 June 2001

Ken Taylor's Lectures on Accelerating Particles: PDF  Format  (4.9 MB)   or PPT Source  (zip format 4.5 MB)

Andrew White's Lectures on Fermilab Run II  (under constrution)

Will Burgett's Lectures on Cosmic Rays  (under constrution)

Larry Grise's Information about Rutherford Scattering Lab (text file)

Ryszard Stroynowski's Lectures on the Goals of Particle Physics: PDF  Format  (434KB)   or PPT Source  (764KB)

Tamara Trout's Lectures on General Relativity: : PDF  Format  (2.6 MB)   or PPT Source  (gzip format 89 KB)

Chaos Circuit: How To Build Using OpAmps: : PDF  Format  (402KB)   or ps.gz  (487KB)

Sandra Lyman's report on Particle Detectors in Physics: Word.doc format (71 KB)

Richard Lines' report on the Cosmic Ray Telescope: PDF  Format  (277 KB)   or PPT Source  (251KB)

Randy Scalise's note on the cantilevered blocks demonstration: Text file (3K)
 

Workshop Information Page 2001

List and Pics of Participants: 2001

What people are saying about QuarkNet: 2001

Evaluations from the QuarkNet Participants: 2001

FTP File Area for misc documents and pictures: 2001

SMU Press Release about the Workshop: 2001

SMU Press Release about Nobel laureate Leon Lederman visit to SMU: 2001

SMU Faculty Participants:

Professor Ryszard Stroynowski	Professor Fred Olness	Professor Tom Coan
Professor Randall J. Scalise	Dr. Jingbo Ye	Dr. Pavel Nadolsky

Lead Teachers:

Interesting Links:

Fermilab Web-based Instructional Materials

Online educational resources for Physics teachers
A collection of Java applets from Italy

NTNU Virtual Physics Laboratory (Java Applets)
(seems not to work in Netscape, only Internet Explorer)

SMU Physics Home Page

Particle Data Group, LBL

The Particle Adventure

Contemporary Physics Education Project

Particle Physics Education and Information sites

LHC ATLAS Education Page

CERN Microcosom: Discover the World of Particles

Interesting Reports:

National Academy of Sciences Press webpage

Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards, National Research  Council,

Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos: Eleven Science Questions for the New Century

Physics in a New Era: An Overview (2001)
 

Interesting Books:

• The Shape of Space : How to Visualize Surfaces and Three-Dimensional Manifolds,

by Jeffrey R. Weeks; Marcel Dekker; ISBN: 082477437X.
A wonderful book that helps us visualize higher dimensional curved spaces and nontrivial topologies.
 
• Mr Tompkins in Paperback,

by George Gamow; Cambridge Univ Pr. ISBN: 0521447712.
A classic! Provides an intuitive introduction to relativity, cosmology, quantum mechanics, and more.
 
• One Two Three...Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science

by George Gamow; Dover Pub; ISBN: 0486256642.
From the micro to the macro.
 
• The God Particle : If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

by Leon Lederman, Dick Teresi Delta; ISBN: 0385312113.
A wonderful and stimulating introduction to the field of particle physics. Answers: what are our goals? how to we "see" without seeing?
 
• The First Three Minutes : A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe.

by Steven Weinberg, Basic Books; ISBN: 0465024378.
A non-technical introduction to cosmology and the origins of the universe.
 
• A Brief History of Time,

by Stephen Hawking, Bantam Doubleday Dell Pub, ISBN: 0553380168.
 
 
• The Ideas of Particle Physics

by G. D. Coughlan, J. E. Dodd, Cambridge Univ Pr (Short); ISBN: 0521386772.
Contains wonderful explanations of basic particle physics phenomena with simple, non-technical explanations.
 
• The Elegant Universe :  Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory

by Brian Greene  ISBN: 0375708111 ;
 
• Six Easy Pieces : Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher

by Richard Phillips Feynman ISBN: 0738200220 ;
 
• The Evolution of Physics" Einstein, Albert and Infeld, Leopold.   ISBN: 0-671-20156-5

A non-mathematical treatment of physics from classical through relativity and quantum.   Excellent intuitive insights and a great read.

Interesting CD ROM's:

Interesting Videos:

• Under Construction

 
• ATLAS Experiment movie

 
• Powers of 10:

A fascinating tour of the universe from the astronomical to the quantum scales. (Fred's Rating: *****)
 
• Hidden by Time:

High-Speed Motion Events (Approximately 30 Minutes) Over 70 high-speed sequences involving impacts, collisions, and fluid behaviors. (Fred's Rating: ****)

From the Geometry Center:

The Geometry Center is a mathematics research and education center at the University of Minnesota. The Center has a unified mathematics computing environment supporting math and computer science research, mathematical visualization, software development, application development, video animation production, and K-16 math education.

• The Shape of Space:

Through computer animations and fly-throughs, The Shape of Space explores the possible shapes of our universe. It suggests the possibility of a finite but boundless shape for our space. Using objects such as spheres, cylinders, and Möbius stripsas possible shapes for a two-dimensional universe, The Shape of Space investigates corresponding three-dimensional shapes, and encourages the viewer to imagine how our universe could be formed by one of these. (Fred's Rating: *****)
 
• Not Knot:

Not Knot is a guided tour into computer-animated hyperbolic space. It proceeds from the world of knots to their complementary spaces -- what's not a knot. Profound theorems of recent mathematics show that most known complements carry the structure of hyperbolic geometry, a geometry in which the sum of three angles of a triangle always is less than 180 degrees. (Fred's Rating: ***)
 
 
• Outside In:

The award-winning computer animation Outside In explains the amazing discovery, made by Steve Smale in 1957, that a sphere can be turned inside out by means of smooth motions and self intersections, without cutting or tearing. It convincingly demonstrates how valuable can be in the communication of mathematics. (Fred's Rating: *****)

From  Fermilab

• Fermilab's Pursuit of the Fundamental:  (17 Min)

Good introduction.
 (Fred's Rating: *****)
 
• A Sense of Scale:  (28 Min)

A bit longer than above
 (Fred's Rating: ****)
 
• Accelerating Science:  (5 Min)

Fun for the kids.  A "rap" music tour of the accelerator.
 (Fred's Rating: ****)

Interesting ...:

• Under Construction

Interesting Teacher Resources:

• Under Construction

Interesting  Resources suggested by Richard Lines:

http://www.physicsweb.org/
    features great articles on current physics research and discoveries including some great links to other sites

http://www.physicsweb.org/TIPTOP/
    Welcome to tiptop - the best place to explore physics on the web. tiptop is a vast collection of online resources provided by the physics community  for the physics community. Enjoy your visit.

http://www.physicsweb.org/TIPTOP/VLAB/
    Not only includes links to great java applet simulations of neat  phenomenon, but also links to University virtual labs with multiple  simulations.  The only problem is LOTS of sites with no particular  organization.

http://www.ba.infn.it/%7ezito/museo/leonardoen.html
    Over 200 links to math, and physics (and a few to other sicence areas as  well) animations and java applet simulations.

http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/chernobyl/ang.htm
    Interesting site describing the Chernobyl accident and research on the  environment in the aftermath.

http://integratingtheinternet.com/index/sci.html
    Bill Nye the Science Guy, need I say more?

Interesting  Resources suggested by Sandra Lyman:

Sandra Lyman's report on Particle Detectors in Physics:  Word.doc format

http://btc002.msu.montana.edu/nten/home.shtml
    Main site for NTEN (National Teacher's Enhancement Network):

http://btc002.msu.montana.edu/ceres/
    Site for the CERES (We downloaded SCION imaging software and worked extensively with it...all freely obtainable by students and teachers)

http://www.geocities.com/janeway2001/dailyhw.html
    For my final project in the Planetary Cosmology course I put together a Planetary Measurement Unit Based on Imaging software and other activities. Please feel free to provide this link to teachers. I put many hours in on this planning.