{"id":101,"date":"2010-05-25T20:25:16","date_gmt":"2010-05-25T20:25:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hub-dev.bates.edu\/physicsastronomy\/?page_id=101"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:23:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:23:54","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/physics-astronomy\/","title":{"rendered":"Physics and Astronomy at Bates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Physics, the study of space, time, matter, and energy, is a fundamental component of a liberal education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Physics, the study of space, time, matter, and energy, is a fundamental component of a liberal education. Introductory courses in physics and astronomy are designed to give students a broad background in the fundamentals of the discipline, an introduction to the logic and philosophy of science, and insight into the understanding and applications of contemporary physics and astrophysics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advanced courses provide greater depth and sophistication as the student\u2019s background in physics and mathematics develops. Laboratory investigation, designed to accommodate each student\u2019s particular needs, provides direct experience of the central role that experimental research plays in the advancement of science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Research Highlight<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Those odd circles in space? They\u2019re now explained thanks to scientists including Aleks Diamond-Stanic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read the Story<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Physics and Astronomy Events<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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What’s happening now? Gatherings, alumni visits, department seminars, distinguished speakers, advising pizza!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All Events<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Students from Associate Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic\u2019s Intro to Astronomy course held 20 interactive learning activities on topics including constellations, seasons, moon phases, planets and stars, gravity, telescopes, supernova explosions, and black holes. \n\nCaption info for Community Astronomy Night\n\nMark Diamond-Stanic, 7, of Lewiston jumping\n\nAdam Joseph \u201925 of Bloomfield, Conn., and Naomi Lynch \u201925 of Farmingdale, Maine, at the rocket jumping station, seeing who can make the rocket go highest: the amount of force is related to how fat the rocket launches and how high it goes. It\u2019s about how gravity works.\n\nBates students jumping at this station: Zach Van Dusen in blue jacket, Sydney Schuster in purple bandana, Talia Skaistis in black and yellow, and Julia Neumann in green.\n\nDexter Demers, 9, of Minot with Julia Johnson, Emmy Pike at Poster, Delaney Nwachukwu \u201824\nThe Electromagnetic Spectrum\n\nHannah, 8, with brothers David, 6, and Evan, 4 (mother is Michelle Richards of Lewiston)\n\nAfonso, 5, of Lewison. His father is Afonso Ngola (afonsongola@hotmail.com). With sister Rebeca, 18\n\nTeddy Rocque, 7, at moon phases station with Sadie Coleman \u201925 and Serena McGrane \n\nIntro to Astronomy, Maddox, 8, of Lewiston\n\nHula hooping\nDaphne Valen \u201923 in sweatshirt\nEvan Antonakes \u201923 amd Lincoln Rybeck \u201825\n\nBoy Scout master Dan Poirier (615-9952) of Troop 1791 in Auburn\nChad, 11, right; Wyatt, 11, center, and Calvin, 11 left<\/p><\/div>

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\"Evan

Evan Boxer-Cook \u201926, of Scarborough, Maine, leads the Bates Astronomy Club from Carnegie 321 to the Stephens observatory, located on the roof of Carnegie, on January 15, 2025. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Evan

Evan Boxer-Cook \u201926, of Scarborough, Maine, leads the Bates Astronomy Club from Carnegie 321 to the Stephens observatory, located on the roof of Carnegie, on January 15, 2025. (Theophil Syslo | Bates College)<\/p><\/div>

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\"Professor

Professor of Physics Nathan Lundblad has received an award from NASA. He is collaborating with several students on the research and is shown here in his Carnegie Science Lab (Carnegie 146) with two of those students, Kona Lindsey \u201923 of Colorado Springs, Colo., and Elias Veilleux \u201923 (I gray shirt with glasses) of Orono, Maine\n\nKona is shown with his laptop that display research images. Kona writes: \u201cThe image seen on my laptop is from an experiment run in the Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station (ISS). It shows an ultracold gas bubble composed of rubidium atoms. The ring that is visible indicates that the atoms are occupying a shell, or bubble structure. You can see that the inside of the ring has few atoms, meaning the structure is truly hollow.\u201d<\/p><\/div>

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The Mount David Summit 2023 __________\n\nAlecks Diamond-Stanic, Physics, and Brandon Villalta Lopez ’25, Kerry O’Brien Award<\/p><\/div>

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All kids agree; the moon looks WAY better up close!\n.\nEmily Morse ’17 (blue jeans) and Laura Nguyen ’19 with Connect the Constellations.\n\nIsla Shea, 6, of East Auburn School, uses a Carnegie telescope with 2,000x eye strength to view the moon as Evan Goldberg ’19 looks on during last night’s Bates Astronomy Extravaganza co-hosted by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships and the Bates College Physics and Astronomy Department.\n.\nStudents in Astronomy 106, taught by Assistant Professor of Phyiscs Aleks Diamond-Stanic, ran hands on activities and planetarium shows to introduce children to black holes, galaxies, moons, planets, and more. Bates provided a fun night of getting kids excited about science.<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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\"Assistant

Assistant Professor of Physics Ryan Cole works with students in his Carnegie Science 156 lab on June 20, 2025. There is a secondary lab pictured in some of the photos that he and Paloma visited wearing goggles, where they used a laser to measure light frequencies. \n\n\u201cEvery once in a while, science makes sense,\u201d he said at one point to the students.\n\n\n\n\u201cPaloma is building an instrument to study very precisely sunlight and specifically the spectrum of sunlight for applications ultimately in exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) detection and characterization.\n\nAnd then this table, which is Carson, Quinn, and Audrey (and Andrew Liu who is not here today) They are measuring how atmospheric gases like methane \u2014 specifically green house gases \u2014 interact with light to ultimately help us measure those things better in the atmosphere.\n\nStudents photographed:\n\nAudrey Schane \u201925, physics major, who is working as a research assistant with Cole this summer,\nShown at the computer (striped t-shirt), where she is looking at a gas sample where she\u2019s building something to control gas temperatures, with a vaccuum on the bottom. \n\nPaloma Rodriguez \u201926, a physics major (black t-shirt)\n\nCarson Moellering \u201926, physics major, looking at how methane absorbs light in different conditions (light reflecting back and forth in mirrors (white t-shirt)\n\nQwynn Kobertz \u201926, double major in physics and studio art, using a DSR laser exploring how to use this laser in a methane detecting app. (sunglasses on head) Here are two quick links that may help with some context for what we’re doing in the lab.\n\nMy research website: https:\/\/sites.google.com\/bates.edu\/colelab\/research-areas?authuser=0\n\nNIST Article on optical frequency combs: https:\/\/www.nist.gov\/topics\/physics\/optical-frequency-combs<\/p><\/div>

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