It’s our last Nerd Nite before our winter hiatus (Don’t worry – we will be back on the 4th Wednesday in January). Join us on Wednesday, November 20th at No Name Bar starting at 7:30 to hear three nerdy talks!
Talk #1: “Music in Films. A Personal View” by Paul Goltz
A brief history of some of the composers and the art of music in films.
Paul has been a fan of film music since he was 7 years old and has been collecting it ever since.
Talk #2: “Flying Your Head Down the Death Star Trench: Virtual Reality, Drones, and Garvin Heights” by Patrick Lichty
For about twenty years, Patrick has been flying drones, and with the coming of first person drones, some of his footage of Winona has been breathtaking. But with the ability to process video with AI he is creating moving aerial paintings with his footage. David Lynch would be proud!
Patrick Lichty is an internationally acclaimed artist working at the edge of art and technology. He is an Assistant Professor in Mass Communication at Winona State University, and runs the WSU Drone Lab.
Talk #3: “The Physics of Musical Instruments: A scientific discussion of why electric guitars are the coolest” by Sarah Phan-Budd
Physicists dream of showing that all the phenomena in our universe are merely facets of a few simple ideas, or ideally just one big idea. The electric guitar is a fascinating practical application of one of these kinds of unification theories. I will discuss why this makes the electric guitar deeply deeply cool. I will also touch on how physics shows that my instrument of choice, the viola, is pretty much the uncoolest.
Sarah Phan-Budd is a professor and chair of the physics department at Winona State University, where she teaches a course on the science of music. She is also a violist and loves listening to classical music. She tends to think rock and roll is a little bit too loud.