LISI Lecture Series
The Liebman Institute for Science Innovation’s seminal lecture series brings cutting-edge science to the forefront of our community and collective consciousness. It maps the intersection between scientific discovery and innovative application where ‘aha’ moments are always transformative, science fiction is simply prediction, and everything becomes possible.
Lectures draw on various disciplines and are chosen to keep pace with the extreme—often breathtaking—rate of scientific developments. Interacting with leading researchers and visionaries in a venue for sharing ideas and fostering imagination is guaranteed to be inspirational. These events will keep you relevant in a rapidly changing landscape and heighten your awareness and anticipation of potential science-based opportunities, impacts, and solutions.
Lectures include a meet-and-greet with guest speakers, mocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and desserts.
Time: Behind and Beyond the Clock
Friday, April 26, 2024 | 6–8:30 p.m.
Registration: $20 per person ($15 senior 55+, students & children 5 and under free)
John Clark (CEO – Masterclock, Inc.) and Dr. Demetrios Matsakis, Astrophysicist (Chief Scientist – Masterclock, Inc.)
We set the alarm, we run to catch a plane, we celebrate birthdays, and we watch a fleeting sunset knowing the sunrise always comes too soon. We are creatures of our clocks, tick tick-ticking away. There’s never enough time in a day unless, of course, we’re waiting in line. Are we consumed with time, or is the time consumed by us? How do we define time?
Demetrios Matsakis, astrophysicist and retired Chief Scientist at the US Naval Observatory’s atomic clocks, will tell you straight out “You can’t define time”…but, he doesn’t hesitate to define a second - “it’s 9,192,671,770 periods of oscillation of an undisturbed cesium atom” by the way! Matsakis, now chief scientist at MasterClock, Inc., will take us on a journey through the fascinating history of time, the science behind its measure, and the technology of time transfer. Next, John Clark, CEO of Masterclock, Inc., will explore the intricate applications of time in diverse realms such as aerospace and defense, commercial enterprise, automation, and media. His company, Masterclock, Inc., is a small multimillion-dollar international company that builds timing systems synchronized to the Naval Observatory’s satellites. With Matsakis’ science and Clark’s entrepreneurship, they team up to provide precision timing for the world’s most time-sensitive users where a nanosecond difference can have catastrophic and/or astronomically expensive consequences.
Join us for the tales of two real-life time lords….it’s about time!
Register for Time: Behind and Beyond the Clock »
About Our Presenters
John Clark graduated from the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business with both a B.S. and a B.A. in Marketing. Beginning as a sales manager at Masterclock, Inc., he soon moved up to general manager and then to CEO, a position in which, for the last nine years, he has led the company into the international arena with just 25 employees. He has integrated precision timing solutions for industry leaders including NASA, Lockheed Martin, the Department of Defense, Federal Aviation Administration, ABC, NBC, CBS, IBM, Samsung… the list goes on. Whether it’s helping our astronauts ensure timely liftoffs or helping broadcast studios ensure smooth programming transitions, Clark’s entrepreneurial spirit has helped keep the world in synch by supporting mission-critical applications around the globe and beyond. Clark has been honored with the President’s “E” Award for Exports from the U.S. Department of Commerce; the Exporter of the Year Award issued from the State of Missouri; a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives, and the Employer of the Year Award from the City of St. Charles, MO.
Dr. Demetrios Matsakis attended MIT as an undergraduate and received his Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley, where he studied under Nobel Laureate Charles Townes, the inventor of the maser and laser, and built specialized masers in order to observe interstellar dust clouds where stars are born. Subsequently, he joined the U.S. Naval Observatory building water vapor radiometers and doing interferometry to observe quasars and galaxies at the edge of the observable universe. Measuring variations in the earth’s rotation and orientation piqued his interest in time and its measure. Dr. Matsakis then spent the next 25 years working hands-on with most aspects of timekeeping - from clock construction to running the USNO's Time Service Department, to international policy. He has published over 150 papers and counting. He is the author of the recently published An Introduction to Modern Timekeeping and Time Transfer, Springer 2023. He is an award-winning scientist whose oversight of our nation’s ultra-precise clocks has been responsible for the smooth functioning of everything from the internet to our global positioning systems.
If you need an accommodation or a sign language interpreter, contact the Access and Disability Services department at (815) 455-8766 or disabilityservices@mchenry.edu.