The Future Of Transportation From Rails To Rockets: Magnetic Levitation

--Livermore Laboratory "Science 2001" Lecture--

LIVERMORE, Calif.—Magnetic levitation could lead to major improvements in current rail systems in which trains would travel faster and more efficiently, says retired LLNL scientist Dick Post.

The future uses of magnetic levitation will be discussed Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m. when Post, retired Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory physicist, speaks about "From Rails to Rockets: Magnetic Levitation." The talk is part of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s "Science 2001" free lecture series, which will be held at Livermore High School Performing Arts Center and is open to the public.

Post, who holds more than 30 patents in nuclear fusion, partial accelerators, electronics, mechanical energy storage and magnetic levitation will discuss a new and simpler approach to the magnetic levitation of trains, called the "Inductrack."

"This approach, developed at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory as a spin-off from earlier work on magnetic bearings for flywheel energy-storage systems, has promise both for high-speed inter-city and lower speed, urban, maglev trains," Post said. "Someday it may even help NASA launch its rockets into orbit."

Post’s talk is the fifth in a series of evening talks that will be offered through March. All of the talks are geared to the general public.

The last Science 2001 talk and speaker is:
March 29, 2001—"El Nino and Global Climate Change," by Dr. Michael McPhaden, senior scientist from the Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle.

For more information about the series or to receive a brochure, call the LLNL Public Affairs office at 422-4599.