"How Advances in Science Are Made," a talk by Stanford physicist and Nobel laureate Douglas Osheroff, will be Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m. in White Hall 208. A reception at 4 p.m. in the Mathematics & Science Center Atrium will follow. 

Osheroff will reveal the research strategies behind some well-known discoveries, including the work he did as a graduate student at Cornell University to win the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1996.

While noting the complexity of how discoveries are made and how they may come to benefit mankind, he says, "Seldom are such advances made by individuals alone. Rather, they result from the progress of the scientific community; asking questions, developing new technologies to answer those questions, and sharing their results and their ideas with others."

Osheroff will illustrate some research strategies that can substantially increase the probability of making a discovery. He will also illustrate some of these strategies in the context of a number of well known discoveries.

Osheroff's talk is part of the Physics department colloquia, a weekly series of talks that feature a variety of topics, covering all modern corners of physics and related fields, from biophysics, through materials physics, to cosmology and astronomy.

Ilya Nemenman, associate professor of physics, says this is the first time the colloquia has had a speaker "who will talk explicitly about how to make such advances."

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Paulette Evans at 404.727.7862.