Sunday Scientist explores lasers, optics March 20

UNL electrical engineering student Thomas Fink observes the signal from an optical sensor.
UNL electrical engineering student Thomas Fink observes the signal from an optical sensor.

What do sunglasses, barcodes and Blu-Ray discs all have in common? Lasers and optics.

Lasers and optics are all around us and the University of Nebraska State Museum will host a Sunday with a Scientist program for children and families to learn about light, lasers, and optics from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. March 20 at Morrill Hall. Museum hours Sunday are 1:30-4:30 p.m.

Scientists in the UNL Department of Electrical Engineering will provide fun, hands-on activities and demonstrations to help visitors learn how lasers and optics work and impact our lives. Visitors can tune and generate lasers, while exploring the fascinating properties of light and optics. The scientists will also explain the many ways in which we encounter them in daily life, from sunglasses, TV remote controllers, LCD displays and DVD players, to hologram art.

Presenters will include assistant professor Ming Han and students Thomas Fink and Greg Baker.

Sunday with a Scientist is a series of presentations that highlights the work of State Museum scientists and those from other UNL departments and institutions, while educating children and families on a variety of topics related to science and natural history.

For more information on Sunday with a Scientist and/or the NU State Museum, go to http://www.museum.unl.edu or call (402) 472-3779.

- Dana Ludvik, NU State Museum

More details at: http://www.museum.unl.edu