The Arthur H. Waynick Memorial Lecture
The Arthur H. Waynick Memorial Lecture was established in 1986 by the family of Arthur Waynick to support one distinguished lecture each spring semester from a global expert in radio science, atmospheric research or a related field. Waynick served as the head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and the founder and director of the Ionosphere Research Laboratory (now the Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory) until his retirement in 1971. Information about upcoming and past Waynick Memorial Lectures can be found below.
Spring 2022 Waynick Lecture
Title: A Crash Course in Asteroid Defense
Speaker: Dr. Andy Rivkin, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
When: Thursday, February 17, at 6:30 p.m. ET
Where: Foster Auditorium, Paterno Library
To attend the lecture virtually, please register with this link, https://bit.ly/3GSrBML.
Abstract:
Asteroids have hit the Earth throughout its history, but humanity is developing the tools to help us avoid the fate of the dinosaurs. One technique that is being developed is the “kinetic impactor,” where a spacecraft is crashed into an object in order to change its course. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA’s first planetary defense test mission, is designed to test this technique. DART launched in November 2021 and will arrival at its target in September. The target of the DART spacecraft is the 150-meter moonlet Dimorphos orbiting the 780-meter asteroid Didymos. By changing the orbit of Dimorphos around Didymos, the results can be detected much more easily than changing the orbit of an asteroid around the Sun. Didymos and Dimorphos are not dangerous objects themselves, and DART will not bring them closer to Earth, making them excellent targets for this test. Dr. Rivkin will discuss the field of planetary defense, the plans for the DART mission and other planetary defense efforts that are underway.
Bio:
Dr. Andy Rivkin is a planetary astronomer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and an expert in asteroid science. He received his doctoral degree in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona in 1997 and is the investigation lead for DART. Rivkin’s research centers on near-infrared spectroscopy and spectrophotometry of asteroids. In addition to observational work, he has been active in the broader Near-Earth Object community, serving as a team member on several efforts to understand and report the impact hazard we face and how to lessen it, and leading a group reporting to NASA about the most important unknown factors related to human exploration of an asteroid. Asteroid 13743 was named Rivkin in recognition of his work in the field.
Past Waynick Lectures
2021
Chris Ruf
A New Paradigm in Earth Observations: Micro Satellite Constellations
2020
Nicola Fox
Journey to the Sun
2019
David Hysell
Applying Modern Methods to an Old Problem: Predicting Space Weather Near the Magnetic Equator
2018
Thomas Zurbuchen
NASA Science: Doing the Impossible
2015
David W. Miller
Our Next Destination in the Human Journey Beyond Earth
2014
Thomas A. Seliga
Weather Radar Dual Polarization Technology and Penn State’s Ionosphere Research Laboratory
2013
Bill Murtagh
Space Weather Storms: Are We Ready for a Space Katrina
2012
Anousheh Ansari
Space Commercialization & Its Future
2011
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Brain Droppings of an Astrophysicist
2010
David R. Smith
Modern Day Alchemy with Metamaterials: Invisibility Cloaks and Superlenses
2009
Timothy L. Killeen
Challenges and Opportunities in the Geosciences
2008
Ralph Cicerone
Global Climate Change: Human Causes and Responses
2007
Neal Lane
Science and Global Change – The Earth’s Climate and Other Issues
2006
Edward Stone
Exploring the Final Frontier of the Solar System
2005
Gregory Benford
Sailing to the Stars
2004
Joseph H. Taylor
Binary Pulsars and Relativistic Gravity
2003
Lawrence Krauss
Einstein’s Biggest Blunder: A Cosmic Mystery Story
2002
Freeman Dyson
Eight Tales for Technophiles
2001
Jill Tarter
SETI: Science Fact, Not Fiction
2000
Antony Hewish
Mapping the Primordial Universe
1999
Tor Hagfors
Ionospheric Research: Spin-offs into Other Fields
1998
Donald T. Farley
Probing the Ionosphere with Giant Radars: The Science, the History, and a Little Politics
1997
Charles L. Hosler
Fifty-five Years of Progress in Meteorology and a Look at the Future
1996
Thomas M. Donahue
The Galileo Mission to Jupiter
1995
John V. Evans
Twenty Years of Incoherent Scatter Studies of the Ionosphere
1994
William E. Gordon
Arecibo from Start to Finish
1993
John S. Nisbet
How Seven Common Fallacies Were Removed on the Way to Understanding the Ionospheric F Region
1992
Peter M. Banks
Global Atmospheric Changes: Telltales and Other Interesting Phenomena
1991
Louis J. Lanzerotti
Impacts of Solar-Terrestrial Activity on Technological Systems
1990
Ulf Von Zahn
The Atmospheres of Earth, Venus, and Mars: More Different Than We Expected
1989
Gerald S. Levy
From the Ionosphere to Deep Space
1988
Colin O. Hines
Arecibo Observatory Then and Now
1987
C. Stewart Gillmor
Issues in Space Research: How the Future Influences the Past
1986
John C. Brandt
Halley and the Exploration of Comets
Dr. Andy Rivkin, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
