The Measurement of Little g: A Fertile Ground for Precision Measurement Science----Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The Measurement of Little g: A Fertile Ground for Precision Measurement Science

Speaker: James E.Faller, JILA and the University of Colorado
Address: No.2 conference Room
Time: March 23, 2011

Abstract: He will give(a part of )the history of the development of modern absolute gravimeters, and discuss some of the reasons that scientists are interested in this measurement, and also talk about the recent development of the FGC-1-acam-driven instruments per second. Then he will talk briefly about Microg Locoste’s new absolute gravimeter, the FG5-X. Finally he will talk about some “details” that here-to-fore have been neglected that –were they included-would affect at the 1-2 micro-gal level of accuracy the true value that should be assigned to little g at a particular site.

PS: Dr. James E. Faller is an American physicist and inventor who specializes in the field of Gravity. He conceived the Lunar Laser Ranging Program, that shoots high powered laser beams at special retroreflectors placed on the Moon by Apollo program Astronauts. He invented a Gravity Motion Sensor, called the Absolute Gravimeter that is so sensitive to mass, that it can detect a person walking around it, by his mass. His work has been featured in many books and magazines like National Geographic. His research interests include geophysics, experimental relativity, fundamental constants, and precision measurement experiments designed to look for possible invalidations of accepted physical laws at some extreme of magnitude. He is currently working on a new measurement of G, the Newtonian constant of gravitation. He currently works for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).