This is a 64 minute
seminar during which nuclear
physicist, Dr Russell Humphreys describes how paleomagnetic research
indicates our field can not be more than 10,000 years old.
Problems with the dynamo model of the earth’s Magnetic Field are
presented, as is the accuracy with which his model predicted
magnetic strengths of other planets. You may listen online or
download the file.
Dr Humphreys was awarded his Ph.D. in physics from
Louisiana State University in 1972. For the next 6 years he worked
in the High Voltage Laboratory of General Electric Company,
designing and inventing equipment and researching high-voltage
phenomena. While there, he received a U.S. patent and one of
Industrial Research Magazine’s IR-100 awards.
Beginning in 1979 he worked for
Sandia National Laboratories (New Mexico) in nuclear physics,
geophysics, pulsed-power research, and theoretical atomic and
nuclear physics. In 1985, he began working with Sandia’s ‘Particle
Beam Fusion Project’, and was co-inventor of special laser-triggered
‘Rimfire’ high-voltage switches, now coming into wider use. The last
few years at Sandia had seen greater emphasis on theoretical nuclear
physics and radiation hydrodynamics in an effort to help produce the
world’s first lab-scale thermonuclear fusion. Besides gaining
another U.S. patent, Dr Humphreys has been given two awards from
Sandia, including an Award for Excellence for contributions to light
ion-fusion target theory.