UCSC Flatte Lecture 'Physics for Future Presidents' February 11, 2009

Richard A. Muller, professor of physics at UC Berkeley and author of the new book Physics for Future Presidents: The Science Behind the Headlines, will give a public lecture at UC Santa Cruz on Wednesday, February 11, at 8 p.m. The event, which is free (parking is $2) and open to the public, will take place in the Music Center Recital Hall on the UCSC campus.

For more information about this event, please call (831) 459-4121.

Muller's book is based on his class of the same name, which was recently voted "Best Class at Berkeley" in a student poll. In his talk, he will cover the physics of terrorism, energy, nuclear weapons, space, and global warming--all condensed into 45 minutes of material that the president must know and understand.

Muller has received awards for both teaching and research, including a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. His research interests include astrophysics, nuclear physics, geophysics, applied physics, and climate.

Muller's talk is the first Stanley Flatté Memorial Lecture. Stanley Flatté was a professor of physics at UCSC for many years. After his death in 2007, his family raised funds to provide for an annual lecture in his memory. Flatté and Muller were longtime friends, having been graduate students in physics together at UC Berkeley in the 1960s.