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Celebrate World Year of Physics at UW-RF

By Molly Exner
UW-RF News Bureau

APRIL 15, 2005--Help celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Albert Einstein’s groundbreaking discoveries with a lecture, "Dust Spirals," by Anthony Moffatt, a physics professor at the University of Montreal, at 7 p.m., April 28, in Room 200 in Agricultural Science Hall at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Moffat's interests include star clusters, cataclysmic variables and super-massive Wolf-Rayet stars. His toolbox includes some of the most spectacular instruments in the world, including telescopes located in the Atacama desert of Chile and the "out of this world" Hubble Space Telescope.

Moffat's recent work has focused on the carbon dust carried along by the stellar wind of massive stars. It is thought that such dust plays an important role in the formation of planets.

Moffat completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Toronto. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Bonn where he wrote his dissertation in German.

In 1905, Einstein amazed the physics community by publishing three important papers describing ideas that have since influenced all of modern physics. To celebrate the centennial of that miraculous year, 2005 has been proclaimed the World Year of Physics (WYP).

The WYP 2005 is a United Nations-endorsed, international celebration of physics. Through the efforts of a worldwide collaboration of scientific societies, the WYP brings the excitement of physics to the public and inspires the next generation of scientists.

As part of the celebration of Einstein's universal achievements, UW-RF will be holding a number of events on April 28, 29 and 30. Some events will be geared toward the professional, rather than lay, audience. Moffit's presentation is geared toward the lay person.

For more information and a schedule of events, contact the UW-RF physics department at 715/425-3235 or visit its Web site at www.uwrf.edu/physics/2005alumevent.htm.

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