Contact: Phil Hearn
Mark Twain had his "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," but James Brooks has his famous flying frog of Tallahassee.
And never the twain shall meet.
Twain's notorious frog, "Daniel Webster," was a champion jumper--at least when not imbibing bird shot. Brooks' frog, on the other hand, is into magnetic levitating. He flies, when not eating them.
Twain, the pen name of Samuel L. Clemens, had tongue firmly in cheek while penning his 19th century tale about Angel's Camp gambler Jim Smiley and his talented amphibian. Unlike Twain, however, Brooks' recent lecture to about 40 Mississippi State students and faculty was heavily weighted with science rather than bird shot. The event was sponsored by the MSU chapter of Sigma Xi international research society.
Brooks, who holds a doctorate from the University of Oregon, is a professor of physics at Florida State University and an expert in the field of electronic and magnetic mechanisms in low dimensional and novel materials.
The son of a Chicago chemist who participated in America's mid-20th century Manhattan (atomic bomb) Project, Brooks spent much of his childhood roaming the mesas near Los Alamos, N.M., and has literally traveled the globe during his adult life pursuing and dispensing knowledge about the role of electronic anisotropy in molecular crystalline materials.
"The area of molecular crystals is an emerging area in the science and technology of electronic (conducting) materials," he explains in his Web site biography. "They link the realms of semiconductors, metals and biological structures.
"The purpose of the research is to experimentally and computationally investigate the role of anisotropy (assumption of a new position in response to external stimuli) in these materials," he added. "The methods include the use of electronic, magnetic, pressure and optical probes to measure and manipulate their physical properties."
Brooks is a research scientist at Florida State's National High Magnetic Field Laboratory that is operated by FSU, the University of Florida and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The laboratory is the international leader in the development and operation of high-field magnet systems for research in all areas of science and engineering. The facility houses the world's largest and highest powered hybrid magnet, which Brooks calls the "mother of all magnets."
During his April 2 lecture at MSU--titled "Extreme Magnetism: Frogs, Bombs and Quantum Wiggles"--the professor punctuated his serious discussion of quantum mechanics, diamagnetism, international units of magnetic flux density (tesla) and other things scientific with moving pictures of his "famous Tallahassee flying frog."
By placing a frog between the pull of gravity and the huge magnetic field created by FSU's superconducting magnet, which is "about three stories high," Brooks scientifically creates a "repulsive interaction" of opposing forces that causes the frog to levitate in a "little magnetic bowl"--thus producing what he termed his "quantum frog."
He is quick to emphasize, however, that the experiments are perfectly legal and do no harm to the frogs, which must be good news to organizations such as the Amphibian Conservation Alliance.
Brooks' work has drawn national and international news coverage from such media organizations as CNN, BBC, the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel.
What appeals to reporters most, however, he joked, is the "silly frog experiment."
Move over, Mark Twain.
For more information about the MSU chapter of Sigma Xi, contact president S. Homes Hogue, associate professor of anthropology, at (662) 325-7519.