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Summary Sentence: Frontiers in Science Lecture celebrating the periodic table, with Monica Halka, Georgia Tech Honors Program
Full Summary: To celebrate the periodic table’s long-running success, the United Nations proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical elements.Throughout the year, the College of Sciences’ Frontiers in Science Lecture series will bring prominent researchers from Georgia Tech and beyond to expound on little-discussed aspects of the periodic table and chemical elements.
Monica Halka
Little-Discussed Aspects of Chemical Elements For more than half a century, dedicated and eager groups of scientists have contrived ways to introduce heavier and heavier elements into the universe. Their efforts finally completed the seventh row of the famous—if poorly understood—periodic table of the chemical elements.
Now all 118 elements have names, even though most spontaneously decay more quickly than you can say “Oganesson” or “Livermorium.”
What now? Continue? Try to start another row? Why? To what end, and at what cost?
This talk will explore the economic, societal, and scientific benefits and drawbacks inherent in this pursuit.
About the Speaker
Monica Halka is an experimental physicist whose research focused on the interaction of light with atoms.
She has coauthored a set of six volumes on the periodic table, which examines historical, astrophysical, and practical observations about each of the chemical elements.
She serves as associate director of the Honors Program at Georgia Tech, where she teaches courses in optics, energy science, and the nuclear age, among others.
About Frontiers in Science Lectures
Lectures in this series are intended to inform, engage, and inspire students, faculty, staff, and the public on developments, breakthroughs, and topics of general interest in the sciences and mathematics. Lecturers tailor their talks for nonexpert audiences.
About the Periodic Table Frontiers in Science Lecture Series
Throughout 2019, the College of Sciences will bring prominent researchers from Georgia Tech and beyond to expound on little-discussed aspects of chemical elements:
