Wheaton College (IL) Department of Physics

12/24/2021

Our own Dr. Schroeder will be on Science Friday today. Give it a listen!

How the physics of plasma, particles, and the Earth’s magnetic field combine in dazzling displays of aurora.

11/18/2021

A bit early, but merry Christmas from some students from the Analog Electronics class.

10/29/2021

Sunspot number: 96 What is the sunspot number? Updated 29 Oct 2021 Spotless Days Current Stretch: 0 days 2021 total: 60 days (20%) 2020 total: 208 days (57%) 2019 total: 281 days (77%) 2018 total: 221 days (61%) 2017 total: 104 days (28%) 2016 total: 32 days (9%) 2015 total: 0 days (0%) 2014 total:....

10/12/2021

Dr. Schroeder is giving a virtual presentation tonight at 7:30p about his northern lights research that was published this summer. This is part of the monthly colloquium series hosted by the Prairie Section of the American Physical Society. The title is "Shedding light on Earth's light show: a lab study of how electrons can gain the energy needed to produce northern lights." Registration is free with the attached link.
https://apsphysics.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsdeGqrzwoHtxpNnJxBvnFhc_wzGrLYK02

09/17/2021

Ingenium is the engineering student club at Wheaton College. They sponsor several hands-on, engineering based projects which aim to develop skills whilst accomplishing an overarching task (sometimes for another department). Yesterday, during our weekly department Tea & Cookie time we heard from a representative from each of the three Ingenium projects (LiDAR, drone, and water aquifier) to explain what their project does. If you want to be involved, please contact the SPS/Ingenium cabinet. If you are a prospective student, come and visit Wheaton and see how you can be involved!

09/10/2021

Today, our weekly tea & cookie time (every Thursday from 10:30-11:15 AM) was outside, on our observatory deck, to limit the spread of COVID-19 on campus. The weather was great, the fellowship even greater. We also had a telescope pointed at the sun to see the really large sunspots that are currently visible.

09/07/2021

This video features really cool research by Wheaton’s own Dr. Jim Schroeder. In a paper recently published in Nature Communications, he shared results showing that electromagnetic waves called Alfvén waves that are common in space around Earth can actually be responsible for causing northern lights.

07/15/2021

A really exciting day tomorrow for the students of the Dakota Skies class (PHYS 305) tomorrow!

StratoStar Mission Control - Follow a student mission to the edge of space

02/26/2021

Steven Palladino (Physics '13), now almost done with his Physics PhD at the University of Cincinnati gives a quick overview of his fascinating research that brought him several times to the South Pole! How cool is that!

Steven Palladino is a Physics PhD student in the College of Arts and Sciences at UC. The University of Cincinnati 2021 virtual Three Minute Thesis competiti...

02/19/2021

Congratulations to Dr. Roger Wiens (Physics B.S., '82) who is head of the team that developed one of the instruments on the Mars rover Perseverance, that completed a successful landing on Mars today!

Roger Wiens has loved science since he and his brother built rockets in Mountain Lake.

02/17/2021

Featuring Prof. Erskine and her students working on the Mars Settlement Project this past summer!

Landscape view of Salsberry Peak in the Pahrump Hills region, Gale Crater, Mars. Inset: Curiosity Rover “selfie.”  Credit: NASA Part 1. Full speed ahead 2021 will be a busy year...

07/18/2019

Tomorrow 7:25AM MDT the Dakota Skies class at the Wheaton College Science Station will launch a weather balloon to the edge of space (100,000 ft). You can follow the progress at https://tracking.stratostar.net/mission/0327 .

StratoStar Mission Control - Follow a student mission to the edge of space