Dr. Steve Turley, Brigham Young University

Title: Using Physics in Unusual Places

Abstract: I would sometimes tell students that if they didn’t know what major to choose, they should choose physics because it is the basis of everything else. While this is perhaps a bit overstated, it is valuable for faculty members to keep in mind that most of our students will have careers that look different than our academic pursuits. I will discuss physics applications I have found outside typical academic settings. As part of an exotic weapons development program, I participated in some of the early development of ultra-cold atoms, the optical Stern-Gerlach Effect, and the development of a coherent Lyman-alpha source. While studying efficient ways to compute radar cross sections of stealthy targets, I not only utilized my background in electromagnetic theory, but also some machinery from General Relativity and quantum mechanics. Work on measuring lifetimes of parts in ion thruster satellite engines utilized results from astrophysics. After a 25-year academic career, I have been assisting as a volunteer at FamilySearch, an international non-profit collaborative genealogical platform. To my surprise and delight, I’ve found ways my physics background can be applied to problems in computerizing and indexing genealogical records, preserving privacy, optical character recognition, and matching records to family trees.