Annual Celebration
Future dates to be announced.
The Physics Festival started in 2003 with a dozen of hands-on science exhibits and inaugural public lecture by Stephen Hawking. Since then it has become an annual celebration of science and technology attracting more and more visitors every year – over 4000 last year.
Main events
- About one hundred hands-on science exhibits
- Public lectures by prominent scientists and astronauts (past speakers include Stephen Hawking (twice), Steven Hawley, Dudley Herschbach, Gordon Kane, Rocky Kolb, Lawrence Krauss, and Geoffrey Marc).
- Specialized programs for various age groups, including bubble shows for small children, physics quizzes, lectures for Davidson Young Scholars.
Since 2010 the Festival is located in the new Mitchell Physics Buildings at Texas A&M University - home of an 83-foot Foucault pendulum, intriguing Penrose tiling, and the Hawking auditorium.
The 2012 Physics & Engineering Festival will be kicked off on Friday, March 30 with a lecture by Nobel Laureate Dudley Herschbach. Saturday, March 31 will feature an exciting interactive science exhibit for kids and adults, plus a fantastic bubble show by internationally acclaimed bubble guy Keith Johnson. Attendees will participate in Q&A with astronaut Richard Linnehan and Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach and David Lee, and then attend a public lecture by a co-discoverer of the accelerating Universe Professor Nicholas Suntzeff. The Festival will be concluded with a fascinating flight through “The Digital Universe” with Dr. Carter Emmart.
The 2012 Festival is presented by the Department of Physics & Astronomy joined by the Departments of Aerospace Engineering, Mathematics, Chemistry, Atmospheric Sciences, and Biochemistry & Biophysics.
All events have received financial support from the Department of Physics & Astronomy, the Texas A&M College of Science, George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, and The Association of Former Texas A&M Students.