Share
Subscribe
Member of Columbia investigation team
Nobel laureate Douglas Osheroff to discuss space shuttle accident.
Stanford University physics professor Douglas Osheroff, a member of the NASA team that probed last year’s loss of the space shuttle Columbia, will discuss the accident and the investigation’s findings on Fri., March 26 at 3:45 p.m. in Mahar Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Osheroff’s lecture, “Understanding the Columbia Shuttle Accident,” is being presented by the Physics Department Colloquium as the 4th annual Kathryn & Paul Williamson Commonwealth College Lecture.
On Feb. 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry at an altitude of 200,000 feet and a velocity of more than 12,000 mph. All seven crew members perished. Within hours, NASA ordered an investigation into the accident. The 13-member Columbia Accident Investigation Board was chaired by retired admiral Harold W. Gehman.
In its final report issued last August, the board concluded that physical cause of the accident was a piece of insulating foam that struck the leading edge of the left wing 82 seconds into launch. Such foam had fallen off the cryogenic fuel tank on virtually every flight, but NASA did not consider it a safety risk.
In his lecture, Osheroff will describe the loss of the Columbia, his role in the investigation, and discuss the circumstances that allowed the accident to occur.
A recipient of the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics, Osheroff is the J. G. Jackson and C. J. Wood Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a MacArthur Fellow.
“Commonwealth College is delighted to partner with the Physics Department Colloquium to bring such a distinguished visitor to campus,” said Linda L. Slakey, dean of Commonwealth College.
Established in 2000 by alumni Kathryn and Paul Williamson, the lecture series brings distinguished visitors to interact with Commonwealth College students and to give public talks on topical issues. In addition to his public lecture, Osheroff will meet with honors students and faculty in the department of physics.
Commonwealth College is the honors college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It serves 2,800 academically talented undergraduates who demonstrate strong interest in research, artistic creation, or community service. Approximately 20 percent of Commonwealth College students pursue majors in the natural sciences or mathematics.
The UMass Amherst physics department houses one of the nation’s strongest programs in low temperature physics, the focus of Osheroff’s research.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
Professor Osheroff will be available to meet with the press after his talk. Since the auditorium is booked immediately following his lecture, reporters should contact the Office of News and Information at (413) 545-0444 by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 24 for the time and location of the press availability.