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News from the Physics & Astronomy Department
News of 2008
 In April, students graduating with honors were celebrated at Honors Convocation. 10% of those graduating with honors were from our department! From left to right: physics majors Kathy Hoogeboom, John Van Dyke, Jessie Taylor, astronomy minor John VanderHeide, and physics major Ross Norman. Not shown: physics major (and music major) Armin Karim.
 In March, sophomore Melissa Haegert won a Goldwater Scholarship , a prestigous national award for undergraduate research. Melissa will work with Prof. Larry Molnar to study an ancient collision in the asteroid belt that resulted in the Flora family of asteroids. Read the Calvin press release. (In 2006, Chris Beaumont received a Goldwater Honorable Mention, and in 2001 Mason Klein won a Goldwater Scholarship to pursue his research with Prof. Matt Walhout. )
In February, Deborah and Loren Haarsma and their recent book were featured in the religion section of the Grand Rapids Press: "Married Calvin profs: science, scripture mesh".
The total lunar eclipse on February 20 brought over 100 people to the Calvin Observatory, and was featured in a photo essay in Chimes.
Back in 2003, Andrew Vanden Heuvel ('04) was the first Calvin student to discover an asteroid, subsequently named 128177 Griffioen. He now teaches astronomy at Prairie High School in Racine, Wisconsin and is leading his students through the same process of discovery. Using data from the Calvin-Rehoboth Observatory, the high school students found an asteroid in January 2008. The story was covered by Racine station WISN (article and video - Andrew as "Mr. Van"), by Grand Rapids station WZZM (video - watch for the post-it), and the Calvin Chimes (article - Andrew as "Golden Boy").
News of 2007
In December, alum Tom Van Baak ('80, brother of Prof David Van Baak) had his home laboratory of atomic clocks featured in an article in Wired Magazine. He recently involved his kids in perhaps the first homemade relativity experiment, reported in a letter to Physics Today.
Calvin produced a short televsion spot to promote the sciences, featuring the Observatory and Matt Walhout's research lab. View it here or here, or on the Grand Rapids PBS station before Nova and other programs.
 In October 2007, Origins: A Reformed Look at Creation, Design, and Evolution by professors Deborah B. and Loren D. Haarsma was published by Faith Alive Christian Resources. Read more in the Calvin press release for the book.
David Van Baak continued his work with TeachSpin in Summer 2007, read more on his web page.
Names were assigned by the International Astronomical Union in April to two more asteroids. Rehoboth is named after Rehoboth Christian School in New Mexico, the site of our remote observatory. De Young is named after Mike De Young who teaches at Rehoboth and provides crucial assistance for the operation of the observatory. As of April 2007, Calvin students and faculty have discovered 124 asteroids, four of which now have names.
In April 2007, Loren Haarsma and biology professor John Ubels received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to pursue interdisciplinary research on the human eye. Loren will study the production of potassium in tear duct cells and
whether potassium in tears protects the cornea from damage by UV
radiation.
Alum Marv Bolt '84 spoke on April 12, 2007 about "Opening Scientific Doors with Art and History". The audience included physicists, historians, artists, and members of the press - and all enjoyed it immensely! Columnist Tom Rademacher wrote a column on it in the Grand Rapids Press.
In April 2007, Stan Haan received a National Science Foundation grant to continue his research on the double ionization of atoms by intense laser light. Stan's work has been supported by NSF for over 20 years, leading to a long list of student researchers and many papers, including a recent paper in the premier journal Physical Review Letters. For more information on this work, see Stan's web page.
The spring 2007 asteroid hunt by students in Phys134, Astr110, and Astr111 eclipsed the previous record. Eighteen
asteroids were discovered in one week and twenty-three discovered altogether. The table of Calvin asteroid discoveries includes links to a NASA site that plots an asteroid's orbit.
News of 2006
- The fall asteroid hunt set a college record, with the Astronomy 110 students receiving credit for the discovery of 14 new asteroids in images from a single pair of nights (September 18 & 19). Our unique asteroid discovery laboratory received notice this summer by the Chronicle for Higher Education (Volume 52, Issue 47, Page A4) and the Toronto Globe and Mail (August 7).
- Prof. Loren Haarsma started a new electrophysiology laboratory with a
grant from the NSF in October 2005 (see press release). He is working on research projects in collaboration with professors from the Biology and Psychology Departments. In summer 2006, he and student researcher David Will recorded electrical activity from over 200 cells in a project to study how stem cells change into nerve cells.
- Names were assigned by the International Astronomical Union in June to two of Calvin College's first asteroid discoveries: Spoelhof and Griffioen. The honorees were selected for their role in establishing astronomy as an observational science at Calvin in the 1960s. This marks the successful conclusion of a multiyear effort to establish the precise orbits of the asteroids.
- Congratulations to Dr. Gerald Gabrielse, a 1973 alum of our department, who has been named a recipient of the 2006 Calvin College Distinguished Alumni Award for his world class research in atomic physics. Over the years, several graduates of our department have received the elite Distinguished Alumni Award, including Paul Vanden Bout, Vernon Ehlers, and Alex Dragt. We're very proud!
News of 2005
- On October 4, the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics was announced, and our own David Van Baak was particularly pleased to hear that John Hall was one of the recipients. John Hall was David Van Baak's post-doctoral mentor in 1979-80 at JILA in Boulder, Colorado.
(A few years ago our department had a similar brush with fame: Matt Walhout's Ph.D. thesis adviser, Bill Phillips, won a share of the Nobel Prize in 1997.)
 On September 29 and 30, 2005, we hosted special lectures on Einstein to celebrate the World Year of Physics. See the press release for details.
- A July 2, 2005 article in the Gallup Independent featured our robotic telescope in New Mexico and student discoveries of asteroids.
- A new screensaver features images from the Calvin Observatory.
- On April 28, 2005,
seniors graduating with honors were recognized at Honors Convocation.
Of the 54 seniors from across campus, 8 majored in physics! Congrats
to Llian Breen, Elise Crull, Jon Dent, Shannon Fogwell, Andrew Jordan,
Lee Miller, John VanderWeide, and Matt Voorman.
- On
February 18, 2005, our own Prof. Jim Jadrich received theCalvin Presidential
Award for Exemplary Teaching. You can read all about it on the college
press release and the Sparc
alumni magazine. We're very proud of Jim - what a worthy recipient!
- Prof. Paul Harper
received tenure in February 2005. Congratulations!
- In January 2005,
Stan Haan gave an invited presentation "Three-Dimensional Classical-Ensemble
Modeling of Non-Sequential Double Ionization," at the Heraus Seminar
on High-Field Attosecond Physics in Obergurgl, Austria. Since 2003 he
has given similar invited presentations at international conferences
in Hamburg Germany, Dallas TX, and Trieste Italy.
- The 2005
January Series included lectures by two physicists: Brian
Greene spoke on string theory, and our alum Tom
Ackerman '70 spoke on global warming.
News of 2004
- The Calvin-Rehoboth
Robotic Observatory was used by students in six astronomy classes in
2004. View student
work, and a poster
presented to the American Astronomical Society meeting in January
2005.
- In Fall 2004,
11 freshmen have indicated their plans to major in physics, one of the
larger classes in recent years. Six of them entered with scholarships
from the science division and the department.
- Congratulations
to David Van Baak, who has been awarded a Calvin College Externship
to spend summer and fall of 2004 with TeachSpin,
developing cool experiments for upper level physics students, such as
"Two
Slit Interference, One Photon at a Time" .
- In summer 2004,
about 12 students are on campus doing research
with professors in our department.
- The Calvin
Observatory hosted viewings of the transit of Venus on June 8, 2004.
Over a dozen people came out to view the sunrise event from the Observatory
deck, and could see the black dot of Venus crossing a deep red sun at
the horizon.
- NCATE has given
a favorable review of the secondary education program! Our program for
training future physics teachers was praised as "carefully thought
out and well-rounded", and reviewers commented that "the design
and open-ended components of the laboratory courses are a particular
strength". Some additional paperwork is required before the program's
accreditation is officially renewed.
- On Monday, May
12, 2004, senior Andrew Vanden Heuvel was interviewed for 30 minutes
on the WGVU television program Newsmakers
about recent discoveries at the Calvin Observatory. He did a great job!
- In April 2004
Prof. Stan Haan learned of the renewal of his National
Science Foundation Grant "RUI: Photoionization and Photorecombination
Processes in Atomic Theory," through April 2007. The grant includes
money
for student researchers each summer. Professor Haan has maintained
continuous NSF funding since 1987.
- Congratulations
to senior Phil Ammar, a member of the Calvin team who won the first
place trophy at the 2004 World Quest competition, sponsored by West
Michigan World Affairs Councl. Phil's experience living in the Middle
East and knowledge of current international events served the team well!
- On April 17, 2004,
Calvin hosted the annual meeting of the Michigan section of the American
Association of Physics Teachers (MIAAPT). U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers spoke,
and department faculty and students gave presentations and tours of
our facilities.
- In March 2004,
Loren and Deborah Haarsma were invited to Baylor University to give
several talks on science and Christian faith as ASA/Templeton
Series Lecturers.
News of 2003
- In
November 2003, the 16" telescope was installed at the new Calvin-Rehoboth
Robotic Observatory near Gallup, NM (see
pictures). We will operate this telescope remotely over the internet,
so that students in Grand Rapids can take advantage of those crisp,
clear New Mexico skies!
- In the Fall 2003
semester, we had record enrollment in an upper-level theory course:
16 students in Classical Mechanics! It's great to have a large number
of majors around the department.
- On September 5
and 6, 2003, senior Andrew Vanden Heuvel discovered a new
asteroid in the solar system! This is the first (but hopefully not
the last!) asteroid discovered at Calvin. After he tracks it for a few
years, he gets to choose its official name. You can read all about it
on the Observatory
web page, as well as in the Calvin
press release and the Grand
Rapids Press article. Andrew was also interviewed on local television
and radio stations, and the story was picked up in Pennsylvania (where
Optical Guidance Systems, (the maker of our telescope, is based), and
in several other web sites and media outlets around the country.
- In Fall 2003,
Matt Walhout gave a series
of seminars on laser cooling of atoms and Bose-Einstein condensates,
following a sabbatical year with Cohen-Tannoudji's
group in Paris.
- On August 27,
2003, Mars
made its closest approach to Earth in 60,000 years. We had 300-350 (!)
people visit our regular
Wednesday public night at the Observatory, and they all had a chance
to view the polar ice cap and light and dark markings on the surface.
Check out the photo
we took August 17.
- In July 2003,
Professors Deborah Haarsma, Loren Haarsma, and Larry Molnar attended
the annual meeting of the American Scientific
Affiliation. This year's theme was Astronomy, and Debbie gave the
opening plenary talk "A Universe of Wonder" (see her
web page for powerpoint). Loren spoke on evolution and morality
(download the powerpoint),
and Larry on the dynamics of the Oort comet cloud. We ran into Don DeGraaf
'48 (one of the first graduates of our department), who has been an
ASA member for over 50 years!
- In May 2003, Paul
Vanden Bout '61 received the Calvin
Distinguished Alumni Award for his leadership of the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory (see the Sparc
story from last year).
- In April 2003,
the Michigan Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers
awarded Prof. David Van Baak with the Physics Education Distinguished
Service Award, in recognition of his dedication and significant
contributions to physics education. Read the Calvin
press release. Congrats!
- The new telescope
is installed in the Calvin Observatory on March 6, 2003. Read the Calvin press
release or the Chimes
article (written for the student newspaper by physics major Phil
Ammar). The story was also covered in the local media (interview with
Prof. Larry Molnar in the Grand Rapids Press, interviews with Prof.
Debbie Haarsma on WOOD TV8 and Fox News 17).
- Calvin Observatory
images of Venus
and Jupiter
were used
in a Nova special "Galileo's Battle for the Heavens",
broadcast October 29, 2002
- Paul
Vanden Bout '61 is featured in a Fall 2002 Spark article
describing his 17 years of service as head of the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory. Note also the sidebar
article the astronomy program.
For less recent news,
we invite you to peruse past issues of our departmental newsletter, SCOPE
(in pdf format): |
