Previous Yunker Lectures
Oregon State Department of Physics Yunker Lecture Series
The Yunker Lecture Fund was established in 1981 as a result of an original generous gift to the Physics Department from Mrs. Gertrude Yunker, who wished to endow a lecture series in honor of her husband, Dr. Edwin Yunker.
Professor Yunker was a member of the OSU physics faculty from 1925 to 1968, and he served as department chair from 1949 to 1966. Under his leadership we started on the path to becoming a modern, research-oriented physics department. The purpose in establishing the lecture fund was to bring outstanding physicists to the campus to give talks on their specialty areas for a general audience. Additional gifts came from Dr. and Mrs. Yunker; from their daughter Elaine Yunker Whiteley, and her husband, Ben; from their son Wayne Yunker and his wife, Elaine; and from other relatives and friends. Since the first lecture in 1985, we have hosted delightful visitors who have offered stimulating talks on topics ranging from time travel to space-based weapons and from the structure of the universe to the structure of fundamental particles. Although Ed and Gertrude Yunker passed away in 1990, their generosity lives on through this excellent lecture series that they endowed.
| Year | Speaker -- Affiliation | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Paul L. McEuen, Professor of Physics, Cornell University | YUNKER LECTURE: "Small is All: Nano, Bio, and the Future of Technology" |
| 2008 | Edward W. Kolb -- Arthur Holly Compton, Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago | Mysteries of the Dark Universe |
| 2006 | W.E. Moerner -- Harry S. Mosher, Professor of Chemistry, Stanford University | Visualizing Single Molecules with Lasers |
| 2005 | Sylvester James Gates Jr. -- John S. Toll, Professor of Physics and Center for String and Particle Theory Director, University of Maryland | Can Cosmological Concordance Occur With Superstring/M-theory in the Heavens? |
| 2003 | Helen Quinn, Professor, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford University | N/A |
| 2001 | Thomas Rossing, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northern Illinois University | Sound, Music, and Physics |
| 2000 | Arthur J. Freeman Morrison, Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University Evanston, IL | A New Age of Computational Materials Science: A Scientific Revolution Unfolds |
| 1999 | Professor Ted Geballe, Emeritus Professor of Applied Physics and of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University | "Magnetic and Superconducting Materials: The Old and the New" |
| 1998 | Prof. Carl Wieman, University of Colorado | "Creating a New Form of Matter at the Coldest Temperature in the Universe" |
| 1998 | Richard Garwin -- IBM, T.J. Watson Research Center | N/A |
| 1997 | Douglas Osheroff - J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics, Stanford University | N/A |
| 1996 | Peter Franken, Professor of Physics, University of Arizona | N/A |
| 1995 | John Clarke, Professor of Physics, University of California, Berkeley | N/A |
| 1994 | Anthony Leggett -- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, University of Illinois | N/A |
| 1993 | Daniel Kleppner -- Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology | N/A |
| 1992 | David Mermin -- Horace White Professor of Physics, Cornell University | N/A |
| 1991 | Vera Rubin, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Institution of Washington | N/A |
| 1990 | Blas Cabrera, Professor of Physics, Stanford University | N/A |
| 1989 | Kip Thorne -- The William R. Kenan, Jr., Professor, California Institute of Technology | N/A |
| 1987 | Leon Lederman, Director, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory | N/A |
| 1986 | Richard Muller, Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology | N/A |
| 1985 | Gary Steigman, Professor of Physics, Ohio State University | N/A |