Physics Series to Explore Mysteries of Space

Rover in action on the surface of Mars

The Physics Café, a new campuswide lecture series sponsored by the Department of Physics and the American Astronomical Society, will kick off on Tuesday, February 4, with a talk on the upcoming NASA mission to Mars and the search for evidence of liquid water in the planet's past. James F. Bell III, an assistant professor of astronomy at Cornell University, will discuss "Rock on Mars" at 7:30 p.m. in the Emerson Suites.

"The Physics Café is a free series that is open to all students, faculty, and staff at Ithaca College," says Beth Ellen Clark Joseph, an assistant professor of physics and organizer of the program. "The idea is to grab and hold the attention of non-science majors by offering talks on exciting and accessible current topics in physics. The presentations will take place in a café environment, where students and physicists can informally discuss new ideas. We'll be serving free Starbucks coffee, along with cookies and biscuits."

The Physics Café will be open for business again in September, with a talk on the time-warping properties of black holes by Jay Pasachoff, director of the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College.