April 3, 2012 — Edward Moses, director of the world's largest laser facility, will give the University of Virginia's 40th Annual Llewellyn G. Hoxton Lecture on April 12 at 7 p.m. in the Chemistry Building auditorium (room 402).

In his talk, "Pathway to Energy Security and Physics of the Cosmos," Moses will describe the unprecedented experimental capabilities of the National Ignition Facility of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., its role in strategic security and fundamental science, and the pathway to achieving fusion ignition to create a clean and secure energy future. A reception will follow in the Chemistry Building atrium.

Moses is responsible for transforming the National Ignition Facility into a national user facility for the study of basic science, including astrophysics, planetary physics and materials under extreme temperature and pressure conditions; and leads the effort to achieve fusion ignition – the point at which a fusion reaction sustains itself without a continuous input of energy. Additionally, he is responsible for the development of high-average-power lasers, short-pulse lasers and high-average-power gamma ray sources.

Moses received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Cornell University and is internationally recognized in laser and optical sciences and high-technology project management. He has received numerous honors, including the National Nuclear Security Administration Defense Programs Award of Excellence for Significant Contributions to the Stockpile Stewardship Program, the Memorial D.S. Rozhdestvensky Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Lasers and Optical Sciences and the RD100 Award for Peregrine Radiation Therapy.

He is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Nuclear Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the International Society for Optical Engineering and Fusion Power Associates.

Llewellyn G. Hoxton, for whom the lecture series is named, was a professor of physics in U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences and served as department chair from 1907 to 1948. Throughout those years, he considered it to be of great importance to convey to students the excitement of new developments in physics. The Hoxton Lectures were inaugurated by the Department of Physics in 1971 to share the viewpoints of physicists on topics where their expertise may offer new insights. These free lectures are intended to be interesting and provocative.

For information, call 434-924-3782 or email Helen McLaughlin, physics education and outreach assistant, at him2b@virginia.edu.