Look Who's at the Lab: Jim Gleeson (April 2009)
In Look Who's at the Lab, we profile some of the hundreds of scientists who visit our lab every year.
Jim Gleeson.
Title: Professor of physics, Kent State University
Mag Lab user since: 2006
Number of visits to the lab: 6
Dates of most recent experiment:
April 13-17, 2009
Research Interests:
"I'm interested in a wide variety of 'complex fluids,' including liquid crystals, polymers, biological materials, etc. We study these using a wide range of techniques including microscopy, x-ray diffraction, optics, electrical characterization and, of course, high magnetic fields."
Web site: http://phys.kent.edu/Physics/Gleeson.html
Email: jgleeson@kent.edu
Title: High-Field Magneto-Optical Studies of Liquid Crystals and Complex Fluids
Other Participants: Tony Jákli, Sam Sprunt and Tanya Ostapenko (Kent State University)
Synopsis: "Complex fluids are materials which exhibit all kinds of effects that are absent in simple fluids (like water or oil). Familiar examples include things such as mayonnaise (which will hold up a spoon you stand in it, but you still can stir) or shampoo (in which you can see air bubbles with a pointy end on them when you turn the bottle upside down). Liquid crystals are an example of a fluid we use every day when we look at a computer or a wristwatch. These fluids change their optical properties (i.e., the way light goes through them) when they feel the effects of electric or magnetic fields. The enormous magnetic fields at the Mag Lab allow us to probe the microscopic structure of these fluids in ways that are simply not accessible otherwise."
Facility: DC Field Facility, Tallahassee.
Equipment: 31 tesla magnet. (We're very much looking forward to the Split Florida Helix.)
Techniques: Optics.
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Favorite thing about working at the lab:
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Walking around the cells late at night and seeing all the fantastic things other people are doing. |
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Thing you miss most about home when you’re here:
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My family and my own bed.
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Your proudest science moment:
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Watching students and other junior scientists with whom I've had the opportunity to work continue successfully on their own.
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What keeps you awake at night:
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Our cats.
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The most unscientific thing about you:
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I can't understand complicated things.
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Your hero:
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My wife.
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Last book you read:
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The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama. |
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Parting thoughts on science today:
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Vannevar Bush, in 1945, called science, "The Endless Frontier." That's truer today than it was then, and I believe we'll not see the day when this is no longer the case.
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- Magnetic-field induced isotropic to nematic liquid crystal phase transition, T. Ostapenko, D.B. Wiant, S.N. Sprunt, A. Jákli, and J.T. Gleeson, Physical Review Letters, 101, 247801-1—247801-4, (2008).
- Converse flexoelectric effect in a bent-core nematic liquid crystal, J. Harden, R. Teeling, J.T. Gleeson, S. Sprunt and A. Jákli, Physical Review E, 78, 031702-1 — 031702-5, (2008).
- Viscosities of a bent-core nematic liquid crystal, E. Dorjgotov, K. Fodor-Csorba, J.T. Gleeson, S. Sprunt and A. Jákli, Liquid Crystals, 35, 149-155 (2008).
- Observation of a possible tetrahedratic phase in bent-core liquid crystals, D. Wiant, K. Neupane, S. Sharma, A. Jákli, J.T. Gleeson and S. Sprunt, Physical Review E, 77, 061701-1 — 061701-7, (2008).
- Extraordinary properties of nematic phases of bent-core liquid crystals , A. Jákli, M. Chambers, J. Harden, M. Madhabi, R. Teeling, J. Kim Q. Li, G.G. Nair, N. JÉber, K. Fodor-Csorba, J.T. Gleeson and S. Sprunt, Proceedings of the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), 6911, 691105, 2008.
- Giant flexoelectricity of bent-core nematic liquid crystals, J. Harden, B. Mbanga, N. Éber, K. Fodor-Csorba, S. Sprunt, J.T. Gleeson and A. Jákli, Physical Review Letters, 97, 157802-1 — 157802-4, (2006).
Date posted: April 2009
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