SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - GENERAL
05/11/01
Fundamental Physics Investigators Prominent at Pan-Pacific Basin Meeting
Of the 190 participants at the 2nd Pan-Pacific Basin Workshop on Microgravity Sciences
last week, 55 were investigators in the Microgravity Fundamental Physics program.
David Lee presented the lead-off plenary talk, describing the excitement of the race
to discover superfluidity in liquid 3He. Randy Hulet presented the final plenary talk
on Friday, describing his recent observation of the Fermi pressure in ultracold
lithium-6 atoms and showing pictorially the differing behaviors of bosons and fermions.
The Fundamental Physics sessions drew crowds to hear about prospects for physicists to
explore biological questions, about using liquid helium as a testbed for fundamental
theories, and about observations of quantum behavior in clouds of atoms cooled to
within a millionth of a degree of absolute zero. Dr. Charles Elachi, newly installed
as the director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, described at the conference banquet
address how the Fundamental Physics program fits into JPL's ambitious plans for space
exploration.
