Nuclear physicist Jay Davis will discuss “Nuclear Forensics: Preparing for an Experiment One Hopes Never to Do” Oct. 19 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Davis’ 4 p.m. talk will be in Phillips Hall, room 265. He also will be available during a brown-bag lunch at 12:15 p.m. and an informal tea at 3:30 p.m. in Phillips, room 277. All events are free to the public.
“Applying the tools of nuclear physics and chemistry to determine the origin of nuclear materials is a growing concern, investment and practice in the current environment,” according to an abstract of Davis’ talk. “Three successive Presidents (Clinton, Bush and Obama) have each said that the unexpected detonation of a nuclear weapon on U.S. soil is the largest threat facing the United States at present.”
Davis spent three decades at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where he built accelerators for research in nuclear physics and materials science.
In the national security, Davis worked to develop techniques for arms control treaties and served as a nuclear inspector in Iraq for the UN Special Commission after the First Gulf War. He also served the Pentagon as the founding director of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency, merging three Department of Defense organizations to create an operating and technical focus for dealing with all aspects of weapons of mass destruction.
For information, contact Tom Clegg, clegg@physics.unc.edu.
