Visiting physicist speaks on Einstein's legacy
Even on the 100 th anniversary of Albert Einstein's
"miracle year," scientists still feel his theories' effects
BY EVA SYLWESTER
NEWS REPORTER
Spring break was no deterrent to
the crowd of people who came to
hear physicist Kip Thorne speak at
the University on March 24. Thorne,
the Feynman Professor of
Theoretical Physics at the California
Institute of Technology, gave a lecture
titled “Einstein’s Legacy in the Mod
ern World: From Black Holes to
Quantum Cryptography.”
The United Nations declared 2005
the World Year of Physics, honoring
the 100th anniversary of Albert Ein
stein’s “miracle year” in which he pub
lished five papers including one that
introduced the theory of relativity.
“We are still exploring Einstein’s
legacy and will continue to do so for at
least another century,” Thome said.
Thorne described two main revolu
tions in physics to which Einstein con
tributed: relativity and quantum me
chanics. Scientific developments are
still being made in both areas.
“Einstein was ahead of his time by
amounts of time ranging from a few
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years to more commonly 50 years to
sometimes 150 years,” Thome said.
In the 200 years prior to Einstein
publishing his paper on relativity,
Isaac Newton’s theories of space,
time, forces and accelerations derived
from everyday experience provided
the framework for understanding the
laws of nature.
“Einstein’s framework has a much
wider range of validity,” Thorne said,
explaining that in Einstein’s frame
work, the laws of nature are the
same in all frames of reference in
cluding situations in which time
and space are warped.
Later scientists used Einstein’s
theory of relativity to predict the
existence of black holes, which
are made from the warping of
space and time. In coming decades,
Thorne said scientists plan to probe
black holes by using a form of radia
tion made from the same material as
black holes — gravitational waves,
which Einstein predicted in 1916.
Thorne also explained the role of
quantum mechanics, which describes
intrinsic uncertainties in the physical
qualities of particles such as position,
speed and energy.
Thome said quantum mechanics is
a framework for the laws of nature just
like relativity, although it is not yet un
derstood how quantum mechanics
and relativity fit together.
Thorne said future developments
may include quantum computing,
quantum cryptography and quantum
communication.
“All of this great power arises be
cause of the weirdness of quantum
logic,” Thorne said.
Hansen said attending the event was a
“no-brainer” for him because of his in
terest in physics.
“I thought it was very interesting,”
he said. “I enjoyed it much.”
Anita Gimre of Forest Grove attend
ed the event with her two children
Karsten and Karensa. She said Thorne
is distantly related to her children.
“We’ve never met him,” she said. “1
thought we should meet him. ”
“I thought it was very interesting,”
Karensa Gimre said.
“We are still exploring Einstein’s
legacy and will continue to do so
for at least another century. ”
Kip Thorne | Visiting professsor
The University’s celebration
of the World Year of Physics
will continue with two more
events spring term. On April 30
at 3 p.m., University physics in
structor Stan Micklavzina will
The lecture, originally scheduled to
take place in 100 Willamette, had to be
relocated to 150 Columbia at the last
minute to accommodate a large crowd.
University math professor Jim Isen
berg, who organized the event, said he
was surprised by the turnout.
“I thought we’d be lucky to get
around 200,” he said. “We got around
500 ... It was very, very pleasing. ”
Junior physics major Anders
present a science circus at the
South Eugene High School auditori
um, 400 E. 19th Ave., as “Dr. Stan
the Science Man.” A $5 donation for
event sponsor Ridgeline Montessori
School is suggested. On May 19 at
7 p.m., University physicist Jim
Brau will speak in 100 Willamette
about recent developments in cos
mology and particle physics.
evasylwester@ daily emerald, com
Legislature agrees schools are
priority, disagrees on funding
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALEM — Several months into
the legislative session, the public
schools’ budget is starting to
take shape.
But lawmakers still have signifi
cant differences on what the priori
ties are within the education budget.
Spending on public schools is the
largest piece of the state’s budget pie.
This year, schools are expected to re
ceive somewhere between $5 billion
and $5.4 billion in funding for the
next two school years, depending on
upcoming revenue forecasts.
Money is allocated to the state’s
199 school districts based on stu
dent enrollment levels, and the spe
cial needs of certain students, like
those in special education.
Most legislators working on the
schools budget subcommittee agree
that classroom instruction from pre
kindergarten to high school should
top the list of school spending.
But after that, things get murky.
Some lawmakers think student
transportation is a clear priority,
while others advocate for school nu
trition programs, or programs for
gifted and talented students.
Subcommittee chairman Richard
Devlin, D-TUalatin, said a list of all
the priorities will be forwarded to the
Legislature’s chief budget writers.
“All of the items have some degree
of importance,” he said. “The ques
tion is what degree of importance.”
The co-chairmen of the Joint
Ways and Means Committee will re
lease their proposed $12.4 billion
spending blueprint April 4.
Rep. Gene Whisnant, R-Sunriver,
who sits on the subcommittee, said
lawmakers are taking the right ap
proach by examining how well pro
grams are working before dividing
up money.
He said all existing education
functions will get funded to some
capacity. That includes computers
and administration, which figure to
rank lower on the list.
Ultimately, though, once the
money goes to school districts, it’s
up to school board members to
divvy it up.
Sen. David Nelson, R-Pendleton,
said there’s little interest in stepping on
the toes of individual school districts,
and there are few strings attached to
the money even though lawmakers
may want more accountability.
A separate bill introduced this
year would let the Secretary of
State’s Office audit individual
school districts.
Committee chairman Devlin said
the results won’t be an edict to indi
vidual schools, but will reinforce to
school districts how lawmakers
want them to spend the money.
PFC: Budget process received limited input
Continued from page 1
groups’ demands at the March 17
meeting, including a demand that
the PFC put together an amended
budget to be submitted during an
emergency Senate meeting tonight.
The demands also included setting
up a “slush fund” that would allow
an interim committee to disperse
stipends to student groups and in
creasing communication between
the PFC and the groups.
Hwang said PFC members agreed
to create an amendment.
“It was our understanding that it
would be ready on Monday,” she said.
But PFC member Jael Anker-La
gos said the PFC agreed only to
work on an amendment. She said
the committee decided not to form
an amendment after crunching
numbers during the break.
The Senate is scheduled to hold
an emergency meeting tonight to
discuss a potential amendment.
Hwang added that she and other
student leaders didn’t have ade
quate input in the PFC process.
“I feel it wasn’t really done out in
public,” she said. “There was not
dialogue and no input from
student leaders.”
But PFC Chairwoman Persis Po
howalla said she hoped groups were
informed about all of the PFC’s ear
lier meetings at which stipends
were discussed. She said group
representatives only came to one
meeting, adding that she sent an
e-mail to student groups about
the changes.
“Clearly not enough people were
able to express their opinions about
it,” she said. “This input would
have been so valuable at the time
we were doing this.”
She added that the PFC was “un
der a huge time crunch,” prohibit
ing further work on the budget.
“It just feasibly can’t happen,”
she said.
African Student Association
member Haben Woldu said pro
gramming is important, but groups
can’t function without adequate
leadership. She also said it isn’t
guaranteed that next year’s Senate
will address the stipends, so the cur
rent PFC should make changes now.
Pohowalla said that stipends have
been “really inconsistent for the
past three to four years” and imple
menting the new stipend model cre
ates a consistent budget.
According to an e-mail from
ASUO Administrative Assistant Mol
ly Bowling, a meeting will be held
at 4 p.m. today in the EMU Walnut
Room for students to learn about
the stipend changes.
Hwang said she expected to learn
about an amendment then, but Po
howalla said no amendment will
be presented.
Some students previously ex
pressed concerns that switching the
stipends from pa^foll to scholar
ships would affect financial aid or
be off-limits for international stu
dents. Anker-Lagos said the new
stipends, in the form of resource aid
from the Business Affairs
Office, will not adversely affect
international students. She said the
new payment requires a Social Se
curity number, but she will inquire
today about the eligibility of
international students.
parkerhowdl@dailyemerald.com