Jones Faculty Lecture by Zoe Boekelheide, Associate Professor of Physics

Why I love Magnets and You Should Too 

Magnets are familiar objects, associated with children's toys and refrigerator doors.  They are staples in science museums as a concrete and accessible example of forces acting at a distance.  But their familiarity belies some seriously complex physics!  Did you know that magnetic fields require Einstein's theory of special relativity, magnetic materials wouldn't exist without quantum mechanics, and an intro physics-level magnetic force example problem contains a violation of Newton's Third Law?  It's an impressive dose of modern physics for a phenomenon discovered over 2,000 years ago!  If that weren't enough to hook you, magnets have played and continue to play, an extraordinary role in modern technology--from data storage to the new biomedical imaging and treatments, such as magnetic particle imaging and magnetic hyperthermia, that I address in my research.  In this lecture, I will walk you through some of my favorite topics in magnetism from my teaching and research.

The talk is sponsored by the Thomas Roy and Lura Forest Jones Faculty Lecture and Awards Fund, established in 1966 to recognize superior teaching and scholarship at Lafayette College.

Join via Zoom:  https://lafayette.zoom.us/j/95558871409?pwd=QjZVZ2JEbHc5aldMWEdxVW1DYnBLdz09