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The Accidental Engineer: A Physicist’s Walk on the Dark Side
In just a few short decades, the universe we really know about and call home has been demoted to a mere 4% of the total energy density of the cosmos. What constitutes the remaining 96% is one of the premier questions in all of science today. This colloquium will present the evidence for the ubiquitous dark matter that accounts for a third of that, and a brief motivation for a front-running candidate, the axion. Berkeley is playing a major role in two of the leading experiments in the world to find it; fusion engineering played a brief, amusing and serendipitous role in catalyzing what has become a global campaign of axion research today.
Karl van Bibber received his BS and PhD from MIT in experimental nuclear physics. After postdoctoral work at LBNL, he served as an Assistant Professor of Physics at Stanford. He joined LLNL where he founded and led the High Energy Physics and Accelerator Technology Group, and was LLNL Project Leader for construction of the SLAC-LBNL-LLNL PEP-II B Factory project. His institutional service includes positions as Chief Scientist for the Physics and Space Technology directorate, and Deputy Director of the Laboratory Science and Technology Office. In 2009 he became Vice President and Dean of Research of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. In 2012 he joined the faculty of UC Berkeley as Professor of Nuclear Engineering, and acceded to Department Chair in July 2012. He also serves as Executive Director of the Nuclear Science and Security Consortium, a DOE Office of Non-Proliferation center-of-excellence comprised of eight universities and five national laboratories. His research focuses on basic and applied nuclear science, particle astrophysics, and accelerator science and technology. He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, the DOE Deputy Secretary Award for the B Factory, and the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award for the establishment of degree and executive education programs in Energy, the first within the DoD. He is a fellow of the APS and AAAS.