Dr. Karl van Bibber, Department Chair, UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering Department, 4/14
April 2014 Dinner Meeting Announcement
Topic:
A Physicist Walks on the Dark Side: The Search for the Missing Mass of the Universe
Bio:
Karl van Bibber received his BS and PhD from MIT in experimental nuclear physics. After postdoctoral work at LBNL, he served as an Assistant Professor of Physics at Stanford. He joined LLNL where he founded and led the High Energy Physics and Accelerator Technology Group, and was LLNL Project Leader for construction of the SLAC-LBNL-LLNL PEP-II B Factory project. His institutional service includes positions as Chief Scientist for the Physics and Space Technology directorate, and Deputy Director of the Laboratory Science and Technology Office. In 2009 he became Vice President and Dean of Research of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. In 2012 he joined the faculty of UC Berkeley as Professor of Nuclear Engineering, and acceded to Department Chair in July 2012. He also serves as Executive Director of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium, a DOE Office of Non-Proliferation center-of-excellence comprised of seven universities and four national laboratories. His research focuses on basic and applied nuclear science, particle astrophysics, and accelerator science and technology. He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the DOE Deputy Secretary Award for the B Factory, and the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award for the establishment of degree and executive education programs in Energy, the first within the DoD. He is a fellow of the APS and AAAS.
Abstract:
The past decades have seen revolutionary advances in cosmology, with discoveries coming fast and furious in recent years. While significant pieces of the puzzle remain outstanding, the general outlines of the composition and origin of our universe are fairly clear. Most significantly, it is now known that ordinary matter only make up 4% of the energy density of our Universe, with the remainder being one-third dark matter, and two-thirds being in the form of an even more mysterious dark energy. This talk will provide a whirl-wind tour through the major developments in cosmology of the past century, and focus on the hunt for what constitutes the dark matter of our universe. Berkeley Nuclear Engineering is involved in one of the key searches for the dark matter, a hypothetical elementary particle called the axion.
Presentation Material: