Luther’s Professor Emeritus Barnaal to speak at the Emeriti Colloquium on Jan. 11

Barnaal to speak at Luther Emeriti Colloquium Jan. 11

Midwesterners think they are all too familiar with ice this time but year, but is there more to ice than just the freezing of water? Luther College Professor Emeritus of Physics Dennis Barnaal will go into depth on the fascinating aspects of ice at 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11, in the Mott Room of Dahl Centennial Union as part of the Luther Emeriti Colloquium series.

The presentation “About Ice” is open to the public with no charge for admission.

With more than 40 years of research on ice, Barnaal will present an informal discussion session on ice and snow covering why it is important that ice expands when it freezes, how it’s possible to skate on ice and to make snow balls, and what makes ice crystals random. He’ll also look at snow and why snowflakes are six-sided, as well as how researchers can learn about climate changes throughout the past 100,000 years just by looking at ice.

Barnaal received a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Ph.D., all from the University of Minnesota. He joined the Luther physics staff in 1964, retiring in 2000. While at Luther, he developed a nuclear magnetic resonance research laboratory to study the properties of ice. He has presented papers on ice research at the International Conference on the Physics and Chemistry of Ice.

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,050, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.