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Lloyd B. Thomas Lecture and Performance Series
The Lloyd B. Thomas Lecture and Performance Series features public speakers in diverse topics that celebrate the study of the arts and sciences.
2009 Lloyd B. Thomas Lecture
Diandra Leslie-Pelecky: NASCAR: The Science behind the Speed
Professor Diandra Leslie-Pelecky
Photo Credit: The University of Texas at Dallas
November 5, 2009
7 pm
Jesse Hall Auditorium
Free and open to the public. Book signing to follow!
A group of racecars piloted by the best drivers in NASCAR are turning a corner. Without warning, one of the cars suddenly hits the outside wall. There were no engine failures, no flat tires, and none of the cars touched. . . . so what happened?
This is the question that sparked physicist Diandra Leslie-Pelecky’s interest in racing. What she thought would be a ten-minute search of the web turned into a book, The Physics of NASCAR, that takes NASCAR (and science) fans behind the scenes at top race shops, onto the asphalt at Texas Motor Speedway and into the garage with the Gillett Evernham Motorsports’ No. 19 car and its crew. Her talk guides the audience through understanding what it takes to make racecars faster and safer, and why driving a stock car is much harder than you might think. Her talk is filled with examples of current NASCAR science, including why drivers seem to be asking their crew chiefs to help them get their cars to turn better, how SAFER barriers revolutionized track safety, why designing tires for the new car is such a challenge, and how something as simple as leaving an oil-tank lid slightly askew could lead to a competitive advantage. The talk – which assumes no prior knowledge of NASCAR or science – is accessible to upper-middle-school level kids and up.
Diandra Leslie-Pelecky, Ph.D., was a researcher in the field of nanomedicine before leaving academia to pursue a full-time career in science communications and entertainment. Her research focused on using magnetic nanoparticles (particles that are a thousand times smaller than the diameter of a human hair) to improve the efficacy of magnetic resonance imaging and make chemotherapy treatment effective while minimizing side effects. She has appeared on television, radio, and websites dealing with science and racing. Her popular website www.stockcarscience.com includes a blog with weekly entries about topical science-related happenings in NASCAR and other motorsports series. The educational website www.buildingspeed.org includes multimedia motorsports materials funded by the National Science Foundation that teachers can use to motivate their students to appreciate how engineering, science, and math are used in the real world. She is also a contributor to the Cocktail Party Physics blog twistedphysics.typepad.com where she writes about everything from the science of hair and makeup to nanomaterials.
Dr. Lloyd B. Thomas
Lloyd Brewster Thomas, born in Iowa in 1909, spent his early years in Alberta, Canada. He came to Columbia in 1922 as an undergraduate, received an A.B. in Chemistry in 1930, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
After obtaining his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry at the University of Minnesota with G. Glockler in 1935, he returned to MU as an Instructor. His entire professional careaer was spent on MU's campus (forty-four years as an active faculty member), except for two years during which he held visiting appointments at Oxford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Following his "retirement" and appointment as Professor Emeritus in 1979, he remained active in research until his death in 1991.
Dr. Thomas is best remembered as an inspiring teacher and a careful experimentalist, whose investigations into gas-surface energy transfer phenomena, brought him international recognition.
In addition to the Lloyd B. Thomas Lecture and Performance Series, the Lloyd B. Thomas Chemistry Scholars Program also honors his contributions to the University of Missouri.
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