THE PHYSICS CENTER AS A MEMBER OF THE ASPEN COMMUNITY

The Aspen Center for Physics has chosen to be a community participant in as many ways as possible. As individuals, many physicists and their families have strong personal ties to the community and participate in every aspect of summer life in Aspen. As an organization, the Center acts as a resource to many community groups including the schools and the local government.

Free public lectures are offered each summer through the Heinz R. Pagels Memorial Public Lecture Series. Presented by some of the country's most eminent authorities, the talks are designed to pique the interest of the general public in subjects related to physics. A few recent titles include: "Probing the Creation: Tests for the Big Bang," "Quantum Mechanics in Your Everyday Life," and "Do Computers Think?"

During the Winter Conference, two or three public lectures and/or discussions are offered by specialists participating in the conferences at the Physics Center. Many of these lectures are videotaped by the Aspen Science Education Outreach Program for distribution to Colorado and Utah high schools.

The excellent research collection in the Physics Center Library, including a section on the history of science, is available for use by the general public.

Frequently, Physics Center participants act as local consultants, offering their expertise to students or curious individuals. In fact, Aspen may be the only town in the country to have "Physicists" listed in the Yellow Pages of the telephone book.

As a member of the larger scientific community, the Physics Center has taken the lead with programs in areas of special concern. Held before or after the summer workshops, they have included such varied subjects as public policy aspects of high capacity electric power transmission, the development of high school curriculum in physics, and modern algebra in mathematics and science.

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