The College of Arts and Sciences and the Liberal Studies Project offer the monthly Meet the Professor series to highlight the college’s research and cultural offerings.

The Thursday luncheon talks begin at noon in the University Club. Reservations are required, with $15 payment by check. To reserve a spot, contact Janna Tajibaeva via email by the Monday before each event. Here are the fall 2018 semester talks:

• Sept. 6: “Latest from the Proximity Orbits of Juno at Jupiter and Cassini at Saturn,” Timothy Dowling, physics and astronomy professor. The scientist will discuss the solar system’s two largest planets, showing recent images of giant windstorms and folded jet streams, updating on Jupiter’s interior and examining evidence about Saturn’s famous rings.
• Oct. 4: “Cracking Up: Laughter without Humor in 20th Century Philosophy and Literature,” Frances McDonald, English assistant professor. She will talk about how several artists and philosophers considered laughter eruptive, irrational and contagious rather than a traditional human response to humor.
• Nov. 1: “Epidemics, Pandemics and Now Syndemics: Lessons from Tuberculosis and Leprosy in Medieval Europe,” Fabian Crespo, anthropology assistant professor. He will talk about a modern look at the interconnectedness of infectious diseases in human evolution.
• Dec. 6: “Spain’s Reconquista: Fact and Fiction,” Gregory Hutcheson, classical and modern languages associate professor. Revisiting 1492 as Spain reclaimed the Iberian peninsula from Muslim rule, Hutcheson will examine the complex realities behind some of the reconquest’s touchstones, such as patron saint St. James the Moorslayer and epic hero The Cid.

In November, the spacecraft will settle into a tighter polar orbit, and according to NASA-funded researcher and current , will use cutting-edge technology to reveal answers to questions that have puzzled astronomers for more than 400 years.

“For 37 orbits the craft is going to use ultra-sensitive magnetic and gravity detectors to construct an MRI-like image of the interior that is hidden by thick layers of clouds,” Dowling said. “This mission will answer several questions about the formation of Jupiter, which is really the story about the formation of our solar system. For years scientists have questioned whether Jupiter has a rocky core or if it is comprised solely of gas. This ‘MRI’ will give all of us a completely new way to look at the planet.”

The Juno mission also will use a microwave radiometer to search for the existence of water and study the depth and speed of the massive jet streams that streak across the solar system’s largest planet.

“I actually have some ‘skin’ in the game because back in the late ’80s and early ’90s I predicted that the jet streams, which are the predominant brown and white stripes, are quite deep,” Dowling said. “This will be the first spacecraft that will test that hypothesis.”

In addition to being a professor of physics and astronomy at UofL, Dowling served as a researcher for the NASA Voyager II mission that photographed and mapped the surface of Uranus. Dowling is also the lead architect for the used by NASA and researchers around the world to model the weather on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. ��

See more about Jupiter from Dowling in the video below:

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