Bradbury Science Museum celebrates National Engineers Week

Contact: Michael Carlson, mcarlson@lanl.gov, (505) 665-4610

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Feb. 15, 2001 -- The Bradbury Science Museum at the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory will explore space and build bridges during National Engineers Week that begins nationwide on Feb. 18. As a way of recognizing engineers for their contributions to society, the museum will host three discussions and a hands-on activity.

All events are open to the public and will take place at the museum, located at 15th Street and Central Avenue in downtown Los Alamos.

Craig Ihde of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will discuss some of the actual scientific space achievements that have been depicted in popular sci-fi media during the last few decades, including Stanley Kubrick's film, "2001: A Space Odyssey" as a reference. The discussion will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Ihde will also give his audience a glimpse of some of the ambitious explorations of the solar system that JPL is currently working on, including the possibility of Ion propulsion, a fly-by of Jupiter, and the science and engineering of the Gallieo, Magellan and Deep Space 1 missions.

Shannon McConnell of the Cassini Outreach Team at JPL will talk about the Cassini Mission to Saturn at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21. The mission is an international effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, the Italian Space Agency, and numerous academic and industrial partners throughout North America and Europe. The unmanned spacecraft, Cassini, is expected to arrive at Saturn on July 1, 2004 and will spend four years in orbit.

As part of the "Saturn In Your Kitchen" series intended to introduce students to science, McConnell's hands-on demonstrations will feature remote sensing techniques that Cassini will use at Saturn, physical science of the Saturn system and spacecraft design.

In a special public presentation at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22, John Bretzke of Los Alamos' Project Management Division and Nick Nagy of the Laboratory's Computing, Communications and Networking Division will discuss the many engineering challenges of constructing the Strategic Computing Complex for a supercomputer that has not yet been invented, said Pat Berger of the museum, part of the Laboratory 's Community Relations Office. Bretzke is the project director and Nagy is the deputy project director for the Strategic Computing Complex under construction at Los Alamos' Technical Area 3.

Also as part of National Engineers Week at the museum, there will be workshops for children ages 8 to 12 from 3:15 to 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 23. Various activities will teach about different aspects of suspension bridges. Students will make their own models of a suspension bridge and determine the weight it will support.

"A discussion about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a suspension bridge in Washington state that collapsed, underlies the importance of engineering and the role of math and science in bridge building," said Berger.

Parents interested in signing up their children for the free National Engineers Week activity can call 665-0896 and provide the child's name, age, telephone number, first and second choice for a program time, and if possible, an electronic mail address. Participants will be accepted on a first-come basis.

Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m., Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There is no admission charge to the museum.

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