into energy by combining 4 protons to make a He4 nucleus. (Hans Bethe Nobel Prize 1967) p + eân + ν proton and electron become neutron and neutrino ...
Thinking and Computing A summary of the! 221st AAS Plenary Talk! Henry Norris Russell Lecture! ! W. David Arnett! Steward Observatory! University of Arizona! Tucson AZ
It is a great honor for me to be named the
Henry Norris Russell Lecturer
of the American Astronomical Society for 2012,
for lifetime achievements in astrophysics My goal tonight is to explain simply what I did,
and how it relates to physics and astronomy Instead of a telescope I used
computers and a lot of thinking
Some words
to know:
! supernova: a big nova
(“new star” in latin), explosion of a star; makes most of the chemical elements and often leaves a neutron star or black hole
! nucleosynthesis: making the nuclei (of atoms)
! matter: the visible matter is made mostly of electrons, neutrons and protons (which are combined to form stars, planets and people)
big bang: the origin of the known universe about 13.5 billion years ago
1996
Inventor: Ole Kirk Christiansen, 1949, Denmark
Atoms and Nuclei are like Legos: they are building blocks
(Thanks to Ronan, Blake, Stephen, Delaney, Jennifer and Eric)