Sonoma State University

Announcing the revised B.S. in Physics starting Fall 2026!

Sonoma State University is proud to launch its revised Bachelor of Science in Physics, featuring a redesigned, student-centered curriculum available beginning Fall 2026. The revised program offers a rigorous physics foundation, small class sizes, close faculty mentorship, and flexible pathways that support timely graduation. Please see our degree programs page for more information.

What Physicists Do - Archive

Date Speaker Speaker Affiliation Lecture Title
Dr. Joel Primack University of California, Santa Cruz the Beginning and the End of Time
Dr. Helen V. Gourley System Sciences Group More Heat Than Light
Dr. Dana Backman NASA Ames Research Center Nearby Stars With Circumstellar Material
Dr. Raymond Y. Chiao University of California, Berkeley Testing Action at a Distance in Quantum Mechanics
Dr. Charles Alcock Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory the Search for Dark Matter in Our Galaxy
Dr. Richard I. Klein University of California, Berkeley Supernova Explosions and Interstellar Clouds
Dr. Natalie Roe Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory the Physics of Beauty
Dr. Yuen-Ron Shen University of California at Berkeley Surfaces Illuminated by Light
Dr. Geoff Owen Flex Products Organic Photo Receptors
Dr. Ashok Gadgil Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Energy Efficiency in Bombay
Dr. Edwin Salpeter Cornell University Are Stars Older Than the Universe?
Dr. Lynn Cominsky Sonoma State University Binary X-Ray Pulsars
Dr. Robert Borchers Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Scientific Computation: The Third Way
Dr. Art Huffman University of California, Los Angeles Relativistic Travel to the Stars
Dr. Gibor Basri University of California at Berkeley Observations of Young Suns With Protoplanetary Disks
Dr. Ian Brown Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Ion Sourcery, Materials, and Diamonds
Dr. Sallie Baliunas Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics the Sun, Stars, and Climate: Why Louis Xiv Had Cold Feet
Dr. Nick Herbert, author Quantum Reality and Faster than Light Quantum Reality
Dr. Douglas Osheroff Stanford University What Happens Near Absolute Zero?
Dr. George Smoot Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Observational Cosmology With Cobe