BSLUGS Go to Fenway, Red Sox vs. Angels, May 22, Friday Eve.

It's a blizzard here in Boston so what better time to think about baseball! Join the B-Slugs, the Boston area UCSC alums, as we head to Fenway Park. We have a block of tickets reserved in the Right Field grandstand for Friday night, May 22, $33 each. First come, first served to get yours! So what if the Sox didn't do so well last year... they won it all the year before. And, whatever the outcome of the game, you get to be at wonderful Fenway. 

To reserve your tix, send your check to Erika Tarlin, P.O. Box 45108, Somerville, Mass. 02145. First come, first served. Please include your check for $33 per ticket. Limit 3 tickets, please. Include a note with number of tickets requested and your address as tickets will be mailed to you.

Turning Stars into Gold: BSLUG Spring Speaker Dessert Event Saturday Evening, April 18

UCSC Professor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz has been a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University this past academic year and has graciously accepted our invitation to talk to the BSLUGS.  Please come to another fabulous evening for UCSC alumni in West Newton where we’ll learn a lot, indulge in delicious dessert, and meet old and new friends.  As always, all friends and family are welcome!

Turning Stars into Gold

Most beginning chemistry students struggling with the complexities and underlying structure of the Periodic Table will simply accept the existence of the approximately 90 stable elements. Rarely does it occur to them that somewhere and in some way, all of the elements had to be synthesized. Such element generation or nucleosynthesis, through transmutation of one element into another, is a crucial byproduct of stellar energy generation. It has occurred since the birth of the first stars in the Galaxy, and without it life on Earth would not be possible. Although the general picture of element formation is well understood, many questions about the nuclear physics processes and particularly the astrophysical details responsible for forming the heavier elements such as platinum and gold remain to be answered. Here I focus on advances in our understanding—still very incomplete— of the origin of the heaviest and rarest elements in the Universe.

WHEN: Saturday, April 18

7:30-10 p.m. (7:30 p.m. dessert | 8:15 p.m. talk begins)

WHERE: At the home of Sloan Nota and Rob McKean in Newtonville, Mass. 02460

WHAT:  a fascinating talk, interesting discussion with fellow UCSC alums, and delightful dessert  

RSVP to the BSLUG Facebook Event invitation or by email to Beata (beata Panagopoulos verizon.net) by Monday, April 23

Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz is a Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). He is also the Director of the Theoretical Astrophysics Santa Cruz Institute and the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Visiting Professor at the Niels Bohr Institute. After studying at the University of Cambridge, he was the John Bahcall Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Since joining the UCSC faculty, Ramirez-Ruiz has won a number of national awards for his research, including a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering  and the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is also a highly regarded teacher and public lecturer. In 2010, he was elected a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences. Then 35, he was the youngest scientist ever elected to the academy.

BSLUGS Raise $1271 for the Smith Renaissance Society at 2014 Holiday Fundraiser

The BSLUG Board thanks everyone who came to the BSLUG Holiday Party last December 6 at Kate Ellis's lovely home and also those who contributed to the fundraiser who couldn't come.  It was such a success, not only in terms of how much money we raised ($1271) for the Smith Renaissance Society, but also because it was very clear we have created a real community of slugs out here in New England.

The atmosphere of the party was very warm and merry, despite the food being cold (but delicious).  Thank you so much, Kate, for making it all possible!

The date of our spring speaker event has to be changed because we overlooked the fact that April 3 is the first day of Passover (thank you, Nancy!)

THE NEW DATE FOR UCSC ASTROPHYSICIST, ENRICO RUIZ-RAMIREZ, TO TALK WITH US IS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 28, IN THE EVENING at Sloan and Rob's home in West Newton.

You'll be hearing more about it soon, but in the meantime, mark your calendars!