Texas A&M University invites audiences across Texas, the nation and the world to get up-close and personal with science and technology outreach at the 2024 Physics and Engineering Festival, set for Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the George P. Mitchell '40 Physics Building on the Texas A&M campus.
As in years past, no fees or tickets are required for the free annual event (view promotional poster online), which will feature hands-on demonstrations, keynote talks and a legendary Texas-sized five-barrel depth charge as well as special events and bonuses.
The day’s jam-packed schedule kicks off at 10 a.m. with Texas A&M Distinguished Professor and Regents Professor of Physics and Astronomy Dr. Nicholas B. Suntzeff, who will present the James G. Potter Lecture, The Greeks, Einstein and Alien Worlds: The Importance of Eclipses, in the Stephen W. Hawking Auditorium within the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy. At 11:30 a.m., NASA astronaut and Texas A&M engineer Greg Chamitoff will present Human Space Exploration for Everyone, also in Hawking Auditorium.
From 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., festival participants are encouraged to unleash their inner scientists while taking in hundreds of fun experiments and demonstrations manned by Texas A&M faculty, staff and students throughout the Mitchell Physics and Blocker Building patio areas. Three fantastic performances of the Science Circus also will be featured (11 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2 p.m.) along with five performances of the Low-Temperature Physics Extravaganza (10:45 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 1 p.m., 1:45 p.m.), two big-barrel implosions (12:45 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.) on the south side of the Mitchell Physics Building and Large Hadron Collider virtual tours at 1 p.m. in Hawking Auditorium. Finally, a Texas-sized five-barrel depth charge explosion complete with 1,000 plastic balls will close out the exhibition portion of the show at 3 p.m. on the south side the Mitchell Physics Building.
At 3:30 p.m., Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics Associate Professor and L’Oréal-Unesco Women in Science International Rising Talents Prize recipient Dr. Beatriz Villarroel will present the Mitchell Lecture, Vanishing Stars and the Hunt for Extraterrestrial Artifacts, discussing her research into extraterrestrial intelligence and her work with the Vanishing and Appearing Sources during a Century of Observations (VASCO) and ExoProbe projects in the Mitchell Physics Building Primary Lecture Hall.
All events are presented by the Texas A&M Department Physics and Astronomy in partnership with several other campus units, including the Departments of Aerospace Engineering, Atmospheric Sciences, Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.
The 2024 festival is sponsored by Halliburton, Marsha L. ’69 and Ralph F. Schilling ’68, Nancy and Robert L. Dunham ’63, Innolight Technology USA Inc., Col. Hal Schade ’67, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy.
For the latest details regarding the 2024 Physics and Engineering Festival, including event directions and parking information, please visit https://physicsfestival.tamu.edu.