http://newscenter.berkeley.edu News from the University of California, Berkeley Sat, 18 May 2013 20:48:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/09/11/laser-discoverer-charles-townes-to-receive-first-golden-goose-award/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/09/11/laser-discoverer-charles-townes-to-receive-first-golden-goose-award/#comments Thu, 06 Sep 2012 21:39:12 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=32897 Charles Townes, who won a Nobel Prize in Physics for invention of the laser, will receive an inaugural Golden Goose Award Sept. 13. Presented for the first time this year, the prize honors scientists who received federal funding for seemingly arcane work that turned out to have revolutionary applications.]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/09/11/laser-discoverer-charles-townes-to-receive-first-golden-goose-award/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/02/14/lasers-vie-with-satellites-to-map-earth%e2%80%99s-magnetic-field/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/02/14/lasers-vie-with-satellites-to-map-earth%e2%80%99s-magnetic-field/#comments Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:00:42 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=5705 Oil and mineral companies, climatologists and geophysicists all rely on expensive satellites to measure the Earth’s magnetic field, but there may be a cheaper option. UC Berkeley physicist Dmitry Budker proposes shining a pulsed orange laser on the layer of sodium atoms 90 km above the Earth to directly read the local magnetic field.]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/02/14/lasers-vie-with-satellites-to-map-earth%e2%80%99s-magnetic-field/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/12/19/lasers/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/12/19/lasers/#comments Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:00:11 +0000 Sarah Yang http://dev-newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=3008 UC Berkeley researchers have developed a new technique that allows plasmon lasers to operate at room temperature, overcoming a major barrier to practical utilization of the technology. Previous plasmon laser devices required temperatures as low as minus 450 degrees Fahrenheit to operate properly. ]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/12/19/lasers/feed/ 0 http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/01/19/laserfest/ http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/01/19/laserfest/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:24:18 +0000 Robert Sanders http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/?p=4162 The Lawrence Hall of Science is hosting a 50th-anniversary exhibit on the laser, Jan. 23-25, highlighted by a free public talk on Jan. 25 by Nobel Laureate Charles Townes, who conceived the idea of a laser in the 1950s. ]]> http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2010/01/19/laserfest/feed/ 0