Department of Physics & Astronomy

The “Night of Art and Innovation” was back for the 10^th time in downtown Riverside last week. Thousands of interested children and adults walked through arts and science displays of 400 presenters. A major player this year was the UCR Department of Physics and Astronomy with a strong team of 30 undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, staff, and faculty. The outreach program included telescopes and demonstrations of the Astronomy group and the Society of Physics Students. Breaking glass with sound, generating lightning sparks, floating a globe over the heads with a leaf blower, bringing a downtown fountain to a “boil” with dry ice drew the attention of hundreds of children and parents to the long row of Department’s presentations.

 Other demonstrations and hands-on experiments were designed to share the fascination with science and its powers to explain the mysteries of nature – to inspire the next generation of physics students, scientists, inventors. Some demonstrations, such as magnetic resonance with a compass or a heat-driven electromotor had a broader impact on public education. “For us this was an exhausting day but the most rewarding and enjoyable experience”, says Prof. Barsukov carrying pizza and refreshments for the team of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.