<p> A new animation about two innovative telescopes being developed at Cornell has just been released by the research group led by <a href="https://physics.cornell.edu/michael-niemack">Michael Niemack</a>, associate professor of physics and astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences.</p><p> The two-minute video explains how researchers are “measuring the oldest light in the universe with the highest telescopes on Earth.”</p>
<p> In a group decision-making process such as the one happening in the U.S. this November, swing voters are crucial. At least that’s the conventional wisdom.</p><p> Whether it’s a presidential election, a Supreme Court vote or a congressional decision – and especially in highly partisan environments, where the votes of the wings are almost guaranteed – the votes of the few individuals who seem to be in the middle could tip the scales.</p>
<p> Physicist <a href="https://physics.cornell.edu/jc-seamus-davis">J.C. Séamus Davis</a>, the James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the College of Arts and Sciences, has received a $1.6 million five-year grant renewal from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation as part of the <a href="https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=new-awards-to-enable-experimental-leaps-in-quantum-materials">Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems (EPiQS) Initiative</a>.</p>
<p> Tom Ruttledge, retired senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, in the College of Arts and Sciences, died May 19 in Ithaca. He was 55.</p>
<p> In this time of increasing political polarization, the participation of scientists in political advocacy has become yet another flashpoint, with some critics accusing scientists of being self-serving if they advocate for increased science funding.</p>
<p> The monumental scroll stretches nearly 60 yards around the Bartels Gallery in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art – an immersive calligraphy experience by Tong Yang-Tze, one of Taiwan’s foremost calligraphers working today. The scroll’s subject – and title – is “Immortal at the River,” referencing a poem by 16th century Chinese poet Yang Shen.</p>
<p>When Michael Fontaine began translating the Latin poem “How to Drink: A Classical Guide to the Art of Imbibing” by Vincent Obsopoeus, he could not have known it would be published in the middle of a pandemic. Ironically, much of the advice offered in this 500 year-old text seems eerily appropriate to this time of social distancing -- Obsopoeus tells readers that the best way to drink is at home.</p>
<p>Shoot a rifle, and the recoil might knock you backward. Merge two black holes in a binary system, and the loss of momentum gives a similar recoil -- a “kick” -- to the merged black hole.</p>
<p>Forty years after Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan first introduced the world to the wonders of science through his “Cosmos” television series, a new season of thought-provoking scientific adventures will air on the National Geographic Channel, beginning March 9. All but one of the science advisers for the acclaimed series are Cornell faculty.</p>
<p><strong><em>This lecture has been cancelled.</em></strong></p><p>Leftover radiation from the Big Bang – the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – carries clues about the fundamental nature of the universe, which was only 400,000 years old when the CMB was released.</p>
<p>This month marks the third anniversary of the discovery of a remarkable system of seven planets known as TRAPPIST-1. These rocky, Earth-size worlds orbit an ultra-cool star 39 light-years from Earth; 1 light-year is approximately 5.88 trillion miles.</p>
<p>Chemistry professor <a href="https://chemistry.cornell.edu/geoffrey-w-coates">Geoffrey W. Coates</a> has received the 2020 Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest from the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society</p>
<p>As a young child in World War II Poland, Nobel Prize-winning chemist <a href="https://chemistry.cornell.edu/roald-hoffmann">Roald Hoffmann</a> and members of his family spent 15 months hiding in an attic, kept safe from the Nazis by a Ukrainian couple who risked their own three small children to do so.</p><p>Hoffmann’s life was spared, thanks to the courage and kindness of others.</p>
<p>Soraya Nadia McDonald, cultural critic for The Undefeated, a website that explores the intersection of race, sports and culture, has been named winner of the 2019-20 <a href="https://english.cornell.edu/george-jean-nathan-award-dramatic-criticism">George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism</a>.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://as.cornell.edu/news/zip-codes-matter">ZIP Codes Matter</a>,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human?” podcast series, shows how inequality can be tracked across America simply by looking at ZIP codes. The podcast’s fifth season – “What Do We Know about Inequality?” – showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.</p>
Inequalities institutionalized during the Civil War era remain with us today, says Noliwe Rooks, professor of Africana studies and director of American studies.
<p>“<a href="https://as.cornell.edu/news/lived-experience">Lived Experience</a>,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human?” podcast series, explores global racial hierarchies and their remedies. The podcast’s fifth season – “What Do We Know about Inequality?” – showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://as.cornell.edu/news/workplace-rankings">Workplace Rankings</a>,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human?” podcast series, explores power and status in the workplace. The podcast’s fifth season – “What Do We Know about Inequality?” – showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://as.cornell.edu/node/%20%2080376">Unequal Parenting</a>,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human?” podcast series, examines persistent inequalities in parenting and the earnings penalties that go along with them. The podcast’s fifth season – “What Do We Know about Inequality?” – showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://as.cornell.edu/news/health-inequities">Health Inequities</a>,” a new episode of the “What Makes Us Human” podcast series, explores how “sociological” storytelling can change health outcomes. The podcast’s fifth season -- "What Do We Know about Inequality?" -- showcases the newest thinking across academic disciplines about inequality.</p>
<p class="videoContainer"><iframe frameborder="0" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/687037402&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=true&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" title="What do we know about inequality"></iframe></p>
Paul Chaikin, professor of physics at New York University, will give a talk, “How Many M&M’s in That Jar? Particle Packings, Frustration and Why Things Crystallize,” Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Schwartz Auditorium, Rockefeller Hall.
<p>Princeton classics professor Barbara Graziosi will deliver the three-part Townsend Lectures on the theme of “Homecoming and Homemaking in the Ancient Mediterranean.” The lectures will begin at 4:30 p.m. in 165 McGraw Hall. The talks are free and the public is invited.</p>
<p> </p><p>The PBS documentary series “The Future of America’s Past” features <a href="https://jewishstudies.cornell.edu/elissa-sampson">Elissa Sampson</a>, lecturer in the Jewish Studies Program, in the episode about New York City’s Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, “The Fire of a Movement.”</p>
<p>The <a href="http://music.cornell.edu/keyboard-center">Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards</a> celebrated a new space for its instrument collection at 726 University Ave. with “New Meets Old: Collaborative Confrontations,” a festival Sept. 6-7, presented by the Department of Music in the College of Arts and Sciences.</p>
<p>George Hutchinson’s book, “<a href="http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/04/facing-abyss-explores-literary-response-1940s-events">Facing the Abyss</a>,” has been <a href="https://www.pbk.org/Press/2019-Book-Awards-Short-List">shortlisted</a> for the Christian Gauss Award of 2019, one of the major prizes for literary scholarship in any field. The Phi Beta Kappa Society, which confers the award, will announce the winning titles on October 1.</p><p></p>
<p>NSF funds two discipline-based education research projects</p><p>The National Science Foundation has funded two discipline-based education research (DBER) projects in the College of Arts & Sciences, contributing to Cornell’s growing DBER profile. Both grants are about $300,000 and three years in length.</p>
<p>The Riemann hypothesis -- an unsolved problem in pure mathematics – is one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems, with a $1 million prize to the person who solves it. </p><p>But that’s not why it fascinates mathematical physicist Andre’ LeClair, for whom this is perhaps the most important open question in mathematics. </p>
<p><a href="https://astro.cornell.edu/martha-p-haynes">Martha P. Haynes</a>, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy, has been awarded the <a href="https://astrosociety.org/who-we-are/awards/catherine-wolfe-bruce-gold-medal.html">2019 Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal </a>from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.</p>
<div>Cornell will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with an afternoon of discussion about the future of planetary and exoplanetary discovery. “From the Moon to Mars and Beyond” will take place on July 20, the actual anniversary of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descending from the Eagle spacecraft onto the lunar surface. The event will feature two talks and a panel discussion and will be held from 2-4:30 pm in Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall.</div>
<p>Cornell has been selected as one of 14 U.S.-based host institutions for the <a href="https://www.hsfoundation.org/programs/science/51-pegasi-b-fellowship/">51 Pegasi b Postdoctoral Fellowship in Planetary Astronomy</a>. The fellowship, supported by the Heising-Simons Foundation, provides up to eight postdoctoral scientists per year up to $375,000 of support for independent research over three years.</p>
<p>Travelers to Reunion were introduced to the origins and evolutions of travel photography by <a href="https://as.cornell.edu/andrew-moisey">Andrew Moisey</a>, assistant professor of the history of art and visual studies, in a June 6 talk, “Forever Your Journey: Capturing the Experience of Faraway Places, 1700-1900,” in Goldwin Smith Hall’s Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium.</p>
<p>As antibiotic resistance rises, the search for new antibiotic strategies has become imperative. In 2013, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that antibiotic resistant bacteria cause at least 2 million infections and 23,000 deaths a year in the U.S.; a recent report raised the likely mortality rate to 162,044.</p>
<p>The Cornell community is invited to celebrate the retirement of Henry Crans, director of facilities for the College of Arts and Sciences, after 50 years at Cornell. The drop-in reception will be on Tuesday, June 25, 1-4 pm in the Groos Family Atrium in Klarman Hall.</p>
