The popular Saturday Science seminar series celebrates its 20th year by tackling paradoxes, those fascinating little conundrums that are sometimes just words colliding but other times are cracks in our understanding of the world that, when levered open, give access to a much deeper understanding.
Sponsored by the department of physics and University College the lectures will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday mornings, starting April 6, in the Hughes Lecture Room, Room 201 in Crow Hall.The lectures, which are presented by faculty members of the department of physics, are free and tailored for the general public. The schedule follows.
April 6: Carl Bender, the Konneker Distinguished Professor of Physics, will discuss "Paradoxes in General."
In thinking about science and mathematics we are sometimes led
to a paradox; that is, a seemingly absurd or contradictory conclusion. Paradoxes are good because they force us to discover the defect in our reasoning, and when we resolve a paradoxical conclusion, we deepen our understanding of the natural world. In this talk we will examine many famous and fascinating paradoxes.
April 13: Michael Ogilvie, professor of physics, will address the question: "Is Randomness Deterministic?"
In 1814, the Marquis de Laplace published the first description of scientific determinism. Newton's laws, he said, allow us to calculate the future from our knowledge of the present. But many systems, such as the weather and financial markets, appear to have random, unpredictable behavior. How can our world be both deterministic and random? We'll explore whether modern science can resolve this paradox.
April 20: John Rigden, adjunct professor of physics, will shed some light on " Schoöedinger’s famous cats."
Can a cat be alive and dead at the same time, collapsing to one or the other state only when it is observed? This is the paradox that Erwin Schrödinger described in 1935 to poke fun at the way the new theory of quantum mechanics was being interpreted by its leading authority, Niels Bohr. Einstein who shared Schrödinger’s allergy to the fundamental randomness implied by quantum mechanics, was delighted with the cat.
April 27: Dr. Kasey Wagoner, lecturer in physics, will discuss "Pole vaulters and Barns." In 1905 Albert Einstein put forth his earth-shaking theory of
Special Relativity. Einstein's seemingly unremarkable assertion that the
speed of light must be constant had many remarkable effects. Included in these effects are length contraction (moving objects are shorter than
objects at rest) and time dilation (moving clocks tick slower than clocks
at rest). Given such odd predictions it is easy to see how the theory of
Special Relativity can lead to many paradoxes. In this lecture we will
explore one such paradox, which concerns a pole vaulter who wants to store his pole in a barn shorter than his pole is long, and walk away with an explanation even Einstein could understand.
May 4: Michael Friedlander, professor emeritus of physics, will tackle Olber’s Paradox.
Why is the sky dark at night? A silly question? No, not so silly. After more than 200 years, scientists still disagree about the possible causes of this easily-observed phenomenon.
For more information contact Sarah Hedley at 314-935-6276 or check the physics web site.