# 1 - Pace VanDevender, Ph.D Physicist

WHEELS Speaker Event
Saturday Afternoon, January 27th
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“From Extreme Ball Lightning to Magentized Quark Nugget Dark Matter”or
"Well, that didn’t work, until it did!"
 
This is the story of an adventure that began with a phone call from Albuquerque High School English teacher John Tricota in 1997. It disrupted the career of Sandia Labs CTO and Vice President of Science and Technology Pace VanDevender. 

The call led to Pace examining Extreme Ball Lightning, which is observed as a glowing ball of light that can last up to 20 minutes in clear weather while moving over 100 tons of material. By 2005, Pace was convinced that the phenomenon was real and potentially important. He retired from Sandia to research its cause. 

The period of 1997 to 2012 was full of experiments and theories that did not work but did eliminate bad ideas. A breakthrough occurred in 2012 that connected Extreme Ball Lightning to Magnetized Quark Nuggets (MQN) and Dark Matter, the mysterious stuff holding galaxies together. 

Since then, the MQN collaboration has published 6 papers in the international refereed literature and collected the best evidence yet pointing to the nature of dark matter. However, it is still possible that some unknown physics produces the observations, not MQNs. So the next goal is to collect an MQN and use it to build the core of a thermonuclear fusion reactor.

  • Date: Saturday, January 27
  • Time: 2 pm to 3 pm
  • Location:WHEELS Museum
  • 1100 2nd Street, SW - ABQ
  • Admission:Free - Donations Encouraged and Gladly Accepted
  • Register: Call (505) 243-6269 or Email Leba4@aol.com


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# 2 - Fine Musical Traditions with Bob Bovee

WHEELS Musical Event
Thursday Morning, February 8th
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Watch Bob Play at a House Concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrVa5fzxhmM&t=3s

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# 3 - Sue Houser - Author of “Walter Steps Up to the Plate"
  Historical Novel For Children and Teens
Saturday, February 3


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  • Date: Saturday, February 3
  • Time:10 am to 11 am
  • Location:WHEELS Museum
  • 1100 2nd Street, SW - ABQ
  • Admission:Free - Donations Encouraged and Gladly Accepted
  • Register: Call (505) 243-6269 or Email Leba4@aol.com
  • Appropriate for Middle School Readers and Older

You are invited to hear “Stories from New Mexico’s Early Days” when Sue Houser will showcase her latest book, “Walter Steps Up to the Plate.”  The book is intended for children and teens, and the lecture will be appropriate for all ages.

Twelve year old Walter accompanies his tuberculosis-stricken mother on the Santa Fe Chief from Dearborn Station in Chicago to Albuquerque in 1927.  Walter does everything he can to help his mother get well.  Will that include accepting money from Al Capone?  He’d rather spend his summer watching his beloved Chicago Cubs play baseball, but finds he must leave everything he knows and loves in order to accompany his mother to Albuquerque, NM, a place he’s never been, to live with relatives he’s never met.

Sue Houser is a native of New Mexico.  A retired social worked, she writes stories about New Mexico’s rich culture and history.  She’s published many award-winning books.
Read more by visiting her website:https://www.southwestwriters.com/sue-houser/