2006 Eric A. Cornell

Eric A. Cornell, the Nobel laureate in physics, Senior Scientist, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Fellow of JILA, and Professor Adjoint in the Physics Department, University of Colorado, gave the Physics Department's 2006 Ta-You Wu Lecture.

The lecture was Wednesday, October 25, 2006 In 1324 East Hall Auditorium on the University of Michigan, Central Campus

Is Warm Glass More Sticky Than Cold Glass? Temperature and Casimir Force

What we think of as "empty" space is really filled with a fluctuating electric field. These tiny electric fields are spooky-seeming but entirely real. They give rise to the stickiness of a perfectly clean glass surface. Professor Cornell will talk about his team’s ongoing experiments on this topic; time permitting he will explore connections to eschatology as well.