Physics Graduate Student Seminar with Henry Webb on Double Feature: Detector Types and Nuclear Physics in Iron Man

At the heart of every experiment, there is a detector. Or two. Or three. Probably a lot of them, actually. Such detectors facilitate the collection of data in many areas of the department — from gamma rays for astrophysics to charged particles for nuclear physics. I will discuss a variety of detector technologies which exist for such purposes, including scintillators, PMTs, SiPMs, and gas detectors, to name a few. While I find the inner workings of these detectors fascinating, others might not share the same opinion. As such, for the sake of audience retention, detector-focused topics will be supplemented by terrible examples of nuclear physics in Iron Man. After all, who doesn't enjoy complaining about inaccurate depictions of science in popular media?