The Physics of Superheroes
Superhero comic books often get their science right more often than you think, according to DR. JAMES KAKALIOS.
Have you ever wondered how strong you would have to be to "leap a tall building in a single bound?" Was it “the fall” or “the webbing” that killed Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man’s girlfriend in the classic Amazing Spider-Man # 121? How does Kitty Pryde from the X-Men comics and movies use quantum mechanics to walk through walls? All this, and the answers to such important real-life questions as the chemical composition of Captain America’s shield, and who is faster: Superman or the Flash? will be discussed.
The Materials Science of Superheroes
While materials scientists don’t typically consult comic books when selecting research topics, innovations first introduced in superhero adventures as fiction can sometimes find their way off the comic book page and into reality. DR. JAMES KAKALIOS discusses efforts to replicate Spider-Man’s wall crawling ability and fabricating artificial fibers that are stronger than Spidey’s webbing, how to build Wonder Woman’s invisible plane, how Iron Man’s nanotech works, and how “smart fabrics” mimic the capabilities of superhero costumes.
The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics
Here we are in the 21st century: we were promised jet packs and flying cars but got smartphones and laptop computers. DR. JAMES KAKALIOS explains how this happened.
The writers of comic books and 1950’s science fiction films thought we’d have a Revolution in Energy, while we actually had a Revolution in Information. This Information Revolution was made possible by semiconductor and solid-state physics, which in turn was made possible by the development of Quantum Mechanics. I’ll review the three basic principles of Quantum Mechanics that underlie transistors, lasers, light-emitting diodes, Magnetic Resonance Imaging and a host of other technologies.
The Atomic Age
In a 1929 Buck Rogers comic strip, the hero uses an “atomic torpedo” to escape from a tough spot – a full 16 years before the Trinity test of the first Atomic Bomb at Los Alamos! In this talk, DR. JAMES KAKALIOS describes the physics that enables the release of tremendous energies in fission and fusion weapons and attempts to harness this energy for peaceful purposes. We’ll also learn why the writers of a Buck Rogers comic were confident their readers would know about atomic weapons well before the Manhattan Project.
The Physics of Everyday Things
From as soon as you awaken to the moment you go to sleep, you are surrounded by technological devices which make your life (usually) easier and better. These devices seem like magic – and they are (that is, magic like Harry Houdini – not Dr. Strange!). In this talk, DR. JAMES KAKALIOS will spill the secrets of these magic tricks, explaining the extraordinary physics of touchscreens, keyless card entry, Fitbit watches, the security systems at an airport’s TSA and other devices which make our every-day extraordinary.
Dr. James Kakalios believes that with creativity, scientific thinking can benefit us all
Renowned physics professor DR. JAMES KAKALIOS thinks the key to finding group harmony is staying open to doubt and uncertainty. In PhysicsWorld, Dr. Kakalios shared his thoughts on “Why it would be better if everyone thought like a scientist.” An expert on the multiverse, Dr. Kakalios is also well-positioned to give his perspective on a range of issues benefitting us all in this one.
Watch Dr. James Kakalios at University of Minnesota >>
Watch Dr. James Kakalios' keynote at the Edinburgh International Book Festival >>
Dr. James Kakalios interests netizens in science as entertainment
Physicist and superhero expert DR. JAMES KAKALIOS is an award-winning science communicator. He has won the same prestigious awards as legends such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, Carl Sagan, Anthony Fauci, Lawrence Krauss, and Michio Kaku. His research (on which he has also given public talks) ranges from the “nano” to the “neuro,” involving studies of nanocrystalline and amorphous semiconductors and fluctuation phenomena in neurological systems, but he also creates contents accessible to civilian audiences. In many popular news outlets such as the BBC, PBS, Inside Hook, and more, Dr. Kakalios shares the joys of how our natural world works through fun, accessible comic book case studies.
James Kakalios, an internationally recognized expert on Superhero Science, is the Taylor Distinguished Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota. He received his B.S. degree (summa cum laude) from the City College of New York in 1979 and went to the University of Chicago for his graduate study in physics. He received his Ph.D. from Chicago in 1985 and was a post-doctoral research associate at the Xerox-Palo Alto Research Center in California. In 1988, having had enough of those California winters, he joined the faculty of the University of Minnesota, where he has been ever since.
In 2001 he created a Freshman Seminar class at the University of Minnesota entitled: "Everything I Know About Science I Learned from Reading Comic Books" (which, his colleagues say, explains a great deal!). This class covered everything from Isaac Newton to the transistor, but there’s not an inclined plane or pulley in sight. Rather, ALL the examples come from superhero comic books, and as much as possible, those cases where the superheroes get their physics right! This class received a great deal of media attention in 2002, coinciding with the release of the SONY film, Spider-Man. One gratifying result from this attention was the hundreds of emails from students, teachers and those long out of school, who liked the idea of using superheroes to teach physics and enquired whether he had a book on this topic.
His popular science book THE PHYSICS OF SUPERHEROES was published in 2005 in the U.S. and the U.K. and has been translated into six languages. The SPECTACULAR SECOND EDITION was published in November 2009, followed by THE AMAZING STORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS (2010), and THE PHYSICS OF EVERYDAY THINGS: The Extraordinary Science Behind an Ordinary Day (2017). These books led to hundreds of speaking opportunities, at venues ranging from high schools to the 92nd St. Y; from M.I.T. to the San Diego ComicCon; from FermiLab to the Library of Congress.
He has been the invited keynote speaker at the Perugia Science Festival, (Perugia, Italy) 2007, Alpbach Technology Forum (Alpbach, Austria) 2011, 2013, 2018, Edinburgh Book Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland) 2013, USA Science and Engineering Festival, Washington DC, 2010, 2012, 2014, the Turin Science Festival (Turin, Italy) 2014, and the Teach-In Event at the March for Science, Washington DC, 2018, 2019. At the invitation from the U.S. State Department, he gave a series of talks to inspire students in STEM education in Portugal, 2013, where he travelled the country and presented nine talks in six days. The positive response from this trip led to a return invitation from the State Dept. where he gave a series of talks (seven talks in five days) in the Azures and Madeira in 2014.
In 2007, in response to a request from the National Academy of Sciences, he served as the volunteer science consultant for the Warner Bros. superhero film Watchmen. In 2009 Kakalios made a short video on the Science of Watchmen, which has been viewed nearly 2 million times on youtube.com. This video won an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy award in 2009 and was nominated for a national WEBBY award in 2010. His volunteer consulting continued with The Amazing Spider-Man (Sony, 2012). A video produced with the University of Minnesota (Spider-Man and the Decay Rate Algorithm), explaining basic principles of Gompertz equation, has been viewed over 80,000 times on youtube.com.
His research interests include nanocrystalline and amorphous semiconductors and fluctuation phenomena in neurological systems. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and has served as the Chair of the APS Committee on Informing the Public and the Chair of the APS Forum on Outreach and Engaging the Public. His efforts at science communication and public outreach have been recognized with the 2014 AAAS Public Engagement with Science Award, the American Institute of Physics’ 2016 Andrew Gemant Award, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lincoln (U.K.) in 2017 and the American Association of Physics Teachers Klopsteg Memorial Lecture Award (2020). He has been reading comic books longer than he has been studying physics.
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