Condensed Matter Physics: The Goldilocks Science
I have the privilege of telling you about some of the achievements and research in Condensed Matter Physics (CMP), also known as Solid State Physics. Since the focus in CMP is on energies, sizes, and time scales that are not extremely big or extremely small, but somewhere we loosely call the "middle", it is an area of science that reminds us of Goldilocks who said, "Ahhh, this porridge is just right," and she happily ate it all up. It can be argued that because of its "Goldilocks nature", CMP has many links to other branches of physics and more generally other areas of science and engineering. These collaborations with fields like electrical engineering, computer science, material science, medical science, and chemistry have led to applications that have made significant contributions to our everyday life. The transistor, solar battery, MRI, and other solid-state devices such as lasers, are a few of the many applications associated with this field. So it can be said that physics is the central science, and CMP, which is the largest branch of physics, is in the center of physics.
CMP is very broad and has both an applied and a fundamental physics component. I will focus mainly on the latter with emphasis on this field's intellectual and conceptual contributions to science. I plan to describe some of the fascinating research involving semiconductors, superconductors, and nanoscience. I'll begin by telling of the development of these areas over the past hundred years, and then I'll discuss some current achievements and discoveries with some focus on contributions from individuals in our own Physics Department. I'll also relay a few observations about Einstein and his seminal research in CMP. However I should add that Einstein suggested that we might never have a theoretical explanation of superconductivity, but Einstein was not always right.
Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp at Cal Performances is a nationally acclaimed summer youth program located on the University of California Berkeley campus. The six week, tuition-free camp conceived by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and produced by Cal Performances teaches dance and life lessons to East Bay middle school students. Follow campers from beginning impressions through the grand finale performance.
The quantum laws governing atoms and other tiny objects seem to defy common sense, and information encoded in quantum systems has weird properties that baffle our feeble human minds. John Preskill will explain why he loves quantum entanglement, the elusive feature making quantum information fundamentally different from information in the macroscopic world. By exploiting quantum entanglement, quantum computers should be able to solve otherwise intractable problems, with far-reaching applications to cryptology, materials, and fundamental physical science. Preskill is less weird than a quantum computer, and easier to understand.
Bio Engineering/ME C117: Structural Aspects of Biomaterials - Professor Lisa Pruitt
This course provides an overview of medical devices, FDA regulatory issues, biocompatibility and sterilization technology. It examines biomechanical properties: isotropy/anisotropy, stiffness, bending stresses, contact stresses, multiaxial loading, plasticity, fatigue, fracture, wear, corrosion, design issues. Also covered: Orthopedics, Dental, Cardiovascular, and Soft Tissue Reconstruction.
Professor Pruitt's current research is focused on fatigue and fracture micromechanisms, cyclic damage zones, and evolution of structure due to cyclic loading and environment in advanced polymers and biomaterials; tribology of...
eCHEM 1A: Online General Chemistry
College of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/echem1a
Curriculum and ChemQuizzes developed by Dr. Mark Kubinec and Professor Alexander Pines
Chemical Demonstrations by Lonnie Martin
Video Production by Jon Schainker and Scott Vento
Developed with the support of The Camille & Henry Dreyfus Foundation
Ruby on Rails Intensive 1-Day Course
Part 3: Basic Rails
ActiveRecord, ActionController, ActionView: validation, model lifecycle, controller actions and the session, filters, forms and parameters, page layouts and partials, CSS.
This is an intensive one-day overview of the fundamental concepts of the Ruby on Rails Web programming framework, presented by the UC Berkeley RAD Lab. The overview consists of six sections of approximately one hour each.
August 16, 2007
Armando Fox and UC Berkeley RAD Lab
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