Strange Physics in a Strange Land, by Bernd Bassalleck
When: Sat, Apr 16 2016 6:00pm
Where: UNM SUB
The 21 Club wishes to thank our speaker, Dr. Bernd Bassalleck, for an excellent presentation.
Home of $15 Cantaloupes and “Fresh Life & Delicious The Street”
For more than three decades I have worked with Japanese colleagues in Strangeness Nuclear Physics, a subfield of Nuclear Physics, both in the US and in Japan. In this talk I will combine a brief physics introduction with comments and some stories about working, living, and traveling in Japan.
Strangeness Nuclear Physics focuses on inserting one or more strange quarks into nuclear systems. The strange quark is one of six fundamental constituents of matter that feel the strong or nuclear force. It provides a unique and distinguishable probe of such systems, distinguishable from the other quarks that make up ordinary atomic nuclei. This physics extends from few-quark exotics all the way to theories about neutron stars. In recent years this research has been and continues to be centered in Japan. The second part of my presentation will consist of some observations about working and living in that fascinating, intriguing, and sometimes strange country. I plan to conclude with some travel scenes to beautiful areas that my wife and I have visited over the years.
Brief Biographical Sketch
PhD, 1977, University of Karlsruhe, Germany (Experimental Nuclear & Particle Physics @ CERN, Geneva, Switzerland)
1977 - 1981, Postdoctoral Research Positions at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
1982 - present, Faculty Member in Physics & Astronomy at UNM 2002 - 2012, Chair of Physics & Astronomy
- 300 co-authored, refereed publications, 10 PhD students, secured or helped to secure
- $10M in research funding from (mainly) the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and Brookhaven National Lab
- Currently enjoying status as a "working retiree" at UNM
