Tag: Ben Bogner

Minutes: February 26, 2019

Ben Bogner tells club members about “Systematic Biases in the Rapid Sky Localization of Gravitational Waves.” Photo courtesy of Mark Bogner.

President Harold Childress, WBØLFH, called the meeting to order at 1835. Minutes of the December 2018 meeting were approved. Motion by Joe Pajor; second by Gary Essells.

Harold asked that we give Joe Pajor a hand for doing a good job as vice president even without the designation. Harold asked that all members please help with finding programs. We need a program for the April meeting.

If you know hams who are eligible to join QCWA, please invite them to attend our next meeting.

Bryon Cannon, webmaster, thanked Dale Puckett for his articles for our chapter’s website. If you have something of interest for the website, please e-mail it to QCWA79@gmail.com

There was a clarification that just names and call signs of members will be in the public part of the website. Additional information might be available in a members-only section.

Please respond to meeting notices. You might get one from our president, and one from our secretary. We like to let the restaurant know ahead of the meeting how many people to set up for.

Guest speaker Ben Bogner gave a very interesting program, “Systematic Biases in the Rapid Sky Localization of Gravitational Waves.” He explained what gravitational waves are, how they are detected, and why astronomers care about them.

Meeting adjourned at 1940.

Preview: February 26, 2019, meeting

Our guest speaker will be Ben Bogner. His topic will be “Systematic Biases in the Rapid Sky Localization of Gravitational Waves.” What are gravitational waves, how can we detect them here on earth, and why do astronomers care? Bogner will take you through a crash course on gravitational wave theory, detection methods, and how a budding astrophysicist from Wichita collaborated with international and NASA scientists to probe the most up-to-date methods for finding gravitational waves.

Bogner graduated in December 2018 from Benedictine College in Atchison with a double major in physics and astronomy. He participated in two NASA internships as an undergraduate: one with NASA Langley Research Center and one with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He plans to use his research project and connections at NASA Goddard to support his pursuit of a Ph.D. in physics or astrophysics with a to-be-determined graduate institution. He plans to do research with NASA as a postdoctoral student for a number of years before going into academia as a university professor of physics and astronomy.