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November Monthly Meeting

October 21, 2014
by Webmaster
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Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh Monthly Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday – November 19, 2014
RSVP BY: Thursday – November 13, 2014

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Dinner Reservation Form
Technology Forum Speaker’s Presentation & Social Hour: 5:30 PM – Laura Falk Lecture Hall (located in Mellon Hall)
Social Hour: 5:30 PM – City View Café (6th Floor of Union)
Dinner: 6:30 PM – City View Café (6th Floor of Union)
Business Meeting: 8:00 PM – Laura Falk Lecture Hall (located in Mellon Hall)
Technical Program Speaker’s Presentation: 8:15 PM – Laura Falk Lecture Hall (located in Mellon Hall)

TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM – 8:15PM
Arthur Kosowsky — Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh

“Microwave Background Polarization and the Beginning of the Universe”
We live in a universe whose properties are remarkably well described by a very early epoch of accelerating expansion, termed inflation. One generic prediction of inflation is a relic background of stochastic gravitational radiation. These gravitational wave perturbations leave a distinctive imprint in the polarization of the microwave background. In March 2014, the BICEP experiment at the South Pole announced the detection of this signal for the first time, although subsequent analysis cast doubt on whether polarized emission from dust in the Milky Way galaxy might be contaminating the signal. I will review the current state of observations and give an overview of upcoming observational efforts at measuring the polarization spectrum which will definitively distinguish the cosmological and galactic signals. If the BICEP signal has a significant cosmological component from inflation, this opens the door to the remarkable possibility of detecting the gravitational radiation background directly with a space-based laser interferometer. Such a measurement would provide a precision probe of physics at energy scales a trillion times higher than those at terrestrial accelerators.


TECHNICAL FORUM – 5:30 PM
Ken Kobus

“Allegheny Observatory: The Selling of Time and Beginning of EST”
This presentation will focus on the development of the American Time System and the role played by Pittsburgh and Pittsburghers in its formation. This city, the Pennsylvania Railroad and Allegheny Observatory were important players in creating the ways in which accurate time was determined and distributed to the nation. There were little quirks and interesting sidebars that came along for the ride. For instance: did you know that at one time the Central Time Zone began at Pittsburgh?

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Monthly Meeting Dates

September 16, 2020
October 14, 2020
November 18, 2020
December (No meeting)
January 13, 2021
February 10, 2021
April 14, 2021
May 13, 2021 (SACP Awards)
May 20, 2021 (SSP Awards)

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2020-2021 Officers

Chair:
Marc Hubert
Chair-elect:
Heather Juzwa
Treasurer:
Logan Miller
Secretary:
Neelam Katyal
Immediate Former Chair:
Neal Dando

About Us

The Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh, along with our sister society, the Society for Analytical Chemists, is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering science education in the Western Pennsylvania region.

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Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh / 412-825-3220 (Ext 212)
300 Penn Center Blvd., Suite 332, Pittsburgh, PA 15235-5503