Spectroscopy: New Uses and Implications

Spectroscopy is a powerful technique that utilizes the interaction of light with matter. It utilizes the absorption, emission, and scattering of light as it interacts with matter creating a large variety of spectra. Analysis of various spectra can yield important physical characteristics of matter, including chemical composition, temperature, luminosity, mass, and more. The uses and implications of spectroscopy are very broad, with practical uses in many fields of science, including astronomy, medicine, analytic chemistry, material science, geology, and more. Researchers are constantly discovering new and clever applications of spectroscopy, and it is expected to play an ever-increasing role in nanotechnology and superconductivity. This new book brings together a diverse collection of new studies in spectroscopy, research advances in spectroscopy, and new uses in spectroscopy.

Professor Roy H. Williams is an astronomer and educator at the Kopernik Observatory and Science Center in Vestal, New York. He has trained on the spectrograph and is certified in both Earth Science and Physical Science. He has taught in several New York districts as well as at several other colleges. He writes a monthly column in the Press Sun-Bulletin newspaper (Binghamton, NY) and makes monthly live appearances on local television newscasts. He also helped to create a computerized sky atlas using Turbo Pascal, and in his role at Kopernik Observatory has worked with both astronaut Dan Bursch and astronomer John Dobson.