Bradbury Science Museum lecture series begins Monday; part of Museum's sixth annual Astronomy Days

Contact: Steve Sandoval, steves@lanl.gov, (505) 665-9206 (03-079)

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LOS ALAMOS, N.M., June 13, 2003 -- A series of six evening lectures begin Monday, June 16, at Los Alamos National Laboratory's Bradbury Science Museum with a discussion about water on Mars by Laboratory scientist Bill Feldman.

The lectures all begin at 6:30 p.m. and are free and open to the public. The lectures are part of the museum's sixth annual Astronomy Days at the downtown museum, said Pat Berger of the museum, part of Los Alamos' Community Relations Office.

The scheduled talks over the next two weeks will help introduce Earthwatch students visiting the Laboratory to the field of astrophysics. The high-school-age students accepted into the Earthwatch Student Challenge Awards Program participate in a variety of activities over a two-week period coordinated and designed by Los Alamos technical staff members.

The evening talks also provide an opportunity to discuss the nature of scientific research and how understanding the process for that research is crucial to planning one's career and training as a scientist.

Feldman, of Los Alamos' Space and Atmospheric Sciences Group, will provide the latest information about his research into the discovery of water on Mars and the potential for life, said Berger.

The second scheduled talk in the series is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when Los Alamos' Geoff Reeves will speak on space weather and how it affects our lives on Earth. Reeves also is in Los Alamos' Space and Atmospheric Sciences Group.

The following evening, Bill Priedhorsky will talk about collapsed stars and black holes. Priedhorsky works for the Laboratory's Nonproliferation and International Security Division.

Other scheduled talks are as follows:

Bill Junor of the Space and Atmospheric Sciences Group will talk on June 23 about the new interferometric radio astronomy instrument, or LoFARS, of which the Laboratory is partnering with several universities.

On June 25, Galen Gisler of Los Alamos' Thermonuclear Applications Group is scheduled to talk about scientific research modeling the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs.

And on June 26. Katrin Heitmann of Los Alamos' Elementary Particles and Field Theory Group will talk about cosmology.

The Bradbury Science Museum is located at 15th Street and Central Avenue in Los Alamos. Museum hours, apart from the special events listed above, are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

For more information, contact Berger at 665-0896.

Los Alamos National Laboratory is operated by the University of California for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy and works in partnership with NNSA's Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories to support NNSA in its mission.

Los Alamos enhances global security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, developing technical solutions to reduce the threat of weapons of mass destruction and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health and national security concerns.

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