Atmospheric Sciences seminar is Sept. 17 Ping Yang, professor with the Department of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University will present a seminar on "The Single Scattering and Radiative Transfer Processes in the Atmosphere" on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 3 p.m. in 210 Clifford Hall. The existence of all life forms on this or any other planet depends on radiation being scattered and absorbed by both the gaseous molecules and particulate matters (e.g., water droplets, ice crystals and aerosol particles) in the atmosphere and the solid surfaces that comprise it. If we are to tackle the formidable problems facing us such as climate change induced by both anthropogenic and natural processes then we must have a thorough understanding of this most important subject and that includes its history. These same processes are also fundamental to many other disciplines such as bio-optics, astrophysics, and reactor theory. In this talk, we will review the history and evolution of these topics. Specifically, we will review the contributions by Clebsch, Lorenz, Mie, Debye and van de Hulst to the early development of the theory of light scattering by a sphere, and some recent developments in the numerical approaches (e.g., the DDA, FDTD and T-matrix methods) for solving for the optical properties of nonspherical and inhomogeneous particles, as well as research efforts on invisibility cloaking. Additionally, we will also illustrate the important implications of particle nonsphericity in climate study and remote sensing. In the review of the development of radiative transfer theory, we will focus on the early contributions by Lommel, Chwolson, Schuster, Eddington, Ambartsumian, and Chandrasekhar, just to mention a few. Of all the "giants" who had worked in this area, the person whose work has been more inspirational to others, including us, might be the Nobel Laureate, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar. -- Wanda Seyler, Administrative Secretary, Atmospheric Sciences, seyler@aero.und.edu, 777-3884