To mark the centennial of Albert Einstein's breakthrough year of 1905, during which he published his theories of special relativity, the photoelectric effect and molecular motion, the UC Davis Department of Physics will hold a series of public lectures on modern physics.

• Nov. 21, Monday -- John Terning, associate professor of physics at UC Davis, will speak on "Extra Dimensions -- Einstein's Fourth Dimension and Beyond," beginning at 8:30 p.m. in room 194 of the Chemistry Building. Time is Einstein's fourth dimension, and his special theory of relativity joins space and time. Terning will talk about theories of additional dimensions at very small scales, and how experiments may soon be able to test for their existence.
• Nov. 28, Monday -- "Einstein's Double Life: Light and the Photon" will be the subject of a talk by Charles Fadley, professor of physics at UC Davis. The lecture will begin at 8 p.m. in room 194 of the Chemistry Building. One of Einstein's greatest discoveries is that light behaves as though it has a double life, sometimes acting like a wave, and sometimes like a particle. Fadley will discuss these ideas and their current uses, including the holographic imaging of atoms.
• Dec. 5, Monday -- UC Davis astrophysicist J. Anthony Tyson will talk about "The Dark Side of the Universe," beginning at 8 p.m. in room 194 of the Chemistry Building. Our universe is dominated by unseen forms of dark matter and dark energy that are not described by today's physics. The gravity exerted by this dark matter and dark energy controls the evolution and the fate of the universe. In this lecture, Tyson will share some images of dark matter and the excitement of our exploration of the dark side.
• Dec. 12, Monday -- Nobel laureate Douglas D. Osheroff, professor of physics at Stanford University, will talk about "How Advances in Science Are Made." His talk will begin at 8 p.m. in the AGR room of the Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center. It is hard to anticipate where great breakthroughs in science will occur, and even harder to predict how these breakthroughs will benefit mankind. Osheroff will discuss how such breakthroughs are made, and how science can be supported to provide the greatest benefit to humanity. He will suggest both personal and national strategies to push forward the frontiers of knowledge while helping to meet the many challenges facing the world. Osheroff is the G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics at Stanford University. He received the 1996 Nobel Prize in Physics with David M. Lee and Robert C. Richardson, both of Cornell University, for discovering that the helium isotope helium-3 can become super fluid at temperatures close to absolute zero.