The Magic of Magnetism: From Physical Attraction to Spin Doctors

Joachim Stöhr, Director, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory

A Public Science Lecture in Celebration of the World Year of Physics
Sponsored by the Advanced Light Source Users’ Meeting Program Committee

Thursday, October 20, 7:15 p.m. : : Building 50 Auditorium

Abstract
Most people have intuitive associations with the word "magnetism" based on everyday life: refrigerator magnets, compasses, north and south poles, or even a "magnetic personality.” Few people realize however, just how complicated the phenomenon really is or how much research is directed at probing a topic that penetrates so much of our modern industrialized world, from electricity and wireless communication at the speed of light, to magnetic data storage in computers. Stöhr's lecture will provide a glimpse at the magic and science behind magnetism: its long history, scientific breakthroughs, and its use in modern society. It will also address forefront issues in magnetism research and technology based on the manipulation of the fundamental magnetic building block—the electron spin. Such spin "doctoring" can be directly visualized by brilliant x-ray beams at the Advanced Light Source.

The presentation, The Magic of Magnetism (.ram file), is available for download.

About the Speaker
Joachim Stöhr was born and grew up in the countryside near Cologne, Germany. After undergraduate work at Bonn University and a Master's degree on a Fulbright scholarship at Washington State University, he received his Ph.D. from the Technical University in Munich in 1974. His research interests have been the development of soft x-ray techniques and their use for materials research since participating in the early synchrotron radiation work at SSRL/SLAC in the mid 1970s. He worked at EXXON and IBM for nearly twenty years before joining the SSRL faculty in 2000. He recently became the fourth Director of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory.

His current research interest in magnetism was stimulated while directing magnetism research at the IBM Almaden Research Center, where much of today's data storage technology was developed. He has just finished an 800-page textbook on the topic with visiting Professor Hans Christoph Siegmann.

Please Note

A Berkeley Lab Shuttle will be available at the end of the lecture to take attendees to BART and downtown Berkeley.

Anyone wishing to attend this talk who is not an LBNL employee or a registered ALS Users' Meeting attendee must make a reservation to attend by sending an email to friendsofscience@lbl.gov or by calling the Community Relations Office at 510-486-7292. Free reserved parking will be available nearby.