Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory Archives

Total solar eclipse Aug. 21 in Oak Ridge area path

Posted at 7:01 pm July 29, 2017
By Carolyn Krause Leave a Comment

The path of totality for the solar eclipse in the United States on Aug. 21, 2017. (Submitted photo)

By Carolyn Krause

Note: This story was updated at 12 p.m. July 30.

On Monday, August 21, a total solar eclipse will blot out the sun starting at 2:31 p.m. for viewers in areas within an hour’s drive of Oak Ridge.

The 70-mile-wide path of totality will extend from Oregon to South Carolina, passing through Nashville, Murfreesboro, Sparta, Cookeville, Crossville, Sweetwater, Athens, and Clingman’s Dome. Oak Ridge will not quite be in the path of totality. The sky over our area will gradually darken starting at 1:03 p.m. It will be plunged into total darkness for up to two minutes and 40 seconds, depending on where you are. The sky should brighten at about 4 p.m.

Image courtesy National Weather Service in Morristown

See a map by NASA and a link to a Washington Post interactive map in this story.

The last time the moon’s shadows in a total solar eclipse crossed our nation from the Pacific to the Atlantic was almost a century ago. On June 8, 1918, the path of totality ran from Washington State to Florida. The next total solar eclipse to cross the U.S. will occur on April 8, 2024. [Read more…]

Learn more about total solar eclipse during Dick Smyser Community Lecture in May

Posted at 1:14 am April 25, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 1 Comment

Photo courtesy National Park Service

Educator Chap Percival will discuss the upcoming August 21 solar eclipse during a May 18 lecture in Oak Ridge.

Percival will be the featured speaker at this year’s Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series.

The free lecture is scheduled for Thursday, May 18, at the American Museum of Science and Energy, which is at 300 South Tulane Avenue in Oak Ridge. A reception will be held in the museum lobby starting at 5:30 p.m., and the lecture will start at 6 p.m. in the museum auditorium.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, blocking at least part of the sun as viewed from some areas of Earth. During a total solar eclipse, the moon completely obscures the sun so that only the sun’s corona is visible for a moment in time. On August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible along a roughly 67-mile-wide path across the United States, from Oregon to South Carolina, a press release said. [Read more…]

Wilson Huang wins first place at state Junior Science, Humanities Symposium

Posted at 3:58 pm March 12, 2017
By Holly Cross Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School participants with Tammy Carneim. (Submitted photo by Tammy Carneim)

By Holly Cross of Oak Ridge Schools

Several Oak Ridge High School students participated in the Tennessee Junior Science and Humanities Symposium at the Holiday Inn World’s Fair Park in Knoxville on February 23-24. The symposium is sponsored by the United States departments of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, and it is administered by the Academy of Applied Science in cooperation with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory also sponsors this event for the region.

Wilson Huang presented at the 11:10 a.m. time slot in Session I on Friday, February 24, with the topic, “Designing Acoustically-Driven Microrobots to Stimulate Active Matter.” Logan Rumbaugh presented at the 1:50 p.m. time slot in Session II on Friday, February 24, with the topic, “Modeling Collective Motion with Periodic Obstacles.”

Poster sessions from students at Oak Ridge High School included Ryan Armstrong presenting “Quantifying the Evolution of Gas from Li-ion Battery Materials” and Dylan Payne presenting “Correcting image distortion from an SEM.” Tammy Carneim is the school’s official teacher sponsor. [Read more…]

Learn about the construction of Oak Ridge through Westcott photos

Posted at 6:29 pm January 8, 2017
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Ed Westcott, right, was the only official photographer in Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project in World War II, a top-secret project to build the world’s first atomic bomb. Westcott is pictured above with D. Ray Smith, Y-12 National Security Complex historian and newspaper history columnist. (Photo courtesy D. Ray Smith)

A Tuesday program will focus on the construction of the city that is now Oak Ridge through Ed Westcott photographs.

The program is titled “The Building of the Atomic City—the Ed Wescott Photographs.” It will be presented by Emily Hunnicutt, Ed Westcott’s daughter, and Don Hunnicutt, Westcott’s son-in-law.

Westcott was the official photographer for the federal government in the city, which was once known as Clinton Engineer Works, during World War II. Oak Ridge was built as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project, a program to build the world’s first atomic bombs, before Germany could.

The Tuesday program is at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center at 1201 Oak Ridge Turnpike. It includes a lunch, and it’s sponsored by Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, or FORNL. This meeting is open to the public. [Read more…]

Public meeting Thursday to discuss ideas for Manhattan Project Park

Posted at 3:58 pm November 8, 2015
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Now demolished, the former mile-long, U-shaped K-25 Building, pictured above, was once used to enrich uranium for atomic weapons and commercial nuclear power plants. Located in west Oak Ridge, the site could become part of a Manhattan Project National Historical Park. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Energy)

A Thursday evening meeting will focus on collecting ideas for the implementation of the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge. The Manhattan Project National Historical Park staff will be represented, a press release said.

It’s the regular November meeting of the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation Association. It starts at 7 p.m. Thursday, November 12, at the Midtown Community Center at 102 Roberstville Road.

The meeting will be held at the end of a day of: [Read more…]

BESC, Mascoma develop revolutionary microbe for biofuel production

Posted at 9:04 am June 4, 2015
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

A yeast engineered by Mascoma and BESC could hold the key to accelerating the production of ethanol in the U.S. (Submitted photo)

Biofuels pioneer Mascoma LLC and the U.S. Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center have developed a revolutionary strain of yeast that could help significantly accelerate the development of biofuels from nonfood plant matter.

BESC is led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The approach could provide a pathway to eventual expansion of biofuels production beyond the current output limited to ethanol derived from corn.

C5 FUEL, engineered by researchers at Mascoma and BESC, features fermentation and ethanol yields that set a new standard for conversion of biomass sugars from pretreated corn stover—the non-edible portion of corn crops such as the stalk—converting up to 97 percent of the plant sugars into fuel. [Read more…]

ORNL staff help students prepare for FIRST LEGO League competition

Posted at 12:25 pm October 1, 2014
By Oak Ridge National Laboratory Leave a Comment

Brian Peters, right, a design engineer for nuclear systems with US ITER at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, works with Jessey Yang, left, and Victoria “Tori” Mullins during a FIRST LEGO League practice session at the National Transportation Research Center. (Photo courtesy ORNL/UT-Battelle)

About 30 students ages nine through 14 are gearing up for the 2014-15 FIRST LEGO League competition with weekly training sessions at the National Transportation Research Center in West Knoxville. NTRC is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and ORNL operating contractor UT-Battelle co-sponsors the LEGO League tournament.

“This year’s theme is ‘World Class Learning Unleashed,’” said Claus Daniel, an ORNL researcher who’s coaching one of three teams meeting at the NTRC. “Part of what the students are doing is defining a question, research, how people learn about the question nowadays and then original ideas to improve the learning process.” [Read more…]

FORNL has third talk on international thermonuclear project on Tuesday

Posted at 11:13 am May 7, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Graeme Murdoch

Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory will have its third talk on the U.S. ITER project on Tuesday. ITER is the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, and it will be constructed at Cadarache, France, and is expected to be completed within 10 years.

The Friends of ORNL lecture starts at noon Tuesday at the University of Tennessee Resource Center. It will feature Graeme Murdoch, who will discuss U.S. ITER non-nuclear systems.

“The United States has joined with China, the European Union, India, Japan, Korea, and Russia to construct and operate ITER, a full-scale, 500 megawatt experimental fusion device,” a press release said. “U.S. Contributions to ITER include hardware (with supporting research and development and design), personnel (U.S. engineers and scientists) to the ITER site in Cadarache, and cash contributions to the ITER organization. US-supplied hardware includes magnets, blankets, diagnostics, tritium processing, ion cyclotron and electron cyclotron heating and current drive systems, pellet fueling, and more conventional systems such as cooling water and electrical power systems.”

ITER is a large-scale project that presents many engineering challenges, the press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL researcher discusses 3-D printing Tuesday

Posted at 10:18 am May 13, 2013
By Dawn Huotari Leave a Comment

The Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory will hold its monthly luncheon lecture meeting on Tuesday.

The meeting will feature speaker Lonnie J. Love, who will discuss the development of 3-D printing and other advanced manufacturing applications at ORNL, a press release said. [Read more…]

‘Girls of Atomic City’ author will be at March 19 lecture, book signing

Posted at 9:10 am March 11, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Denise Kiernan

A March 19 community lecture will feature an author who has written about Oak Ridge women and the second world war.

Denise Kiernan is author of “The Girls of the Atomic City—the Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II.”

She will be the featured speaker during the Tuesday, March 19, lecture, which starts at 6 p.m. at the American Museum of Science and Energy. It’s part of the 16th Annual Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series.

[Read more…]