Countries: CA

Galileo’s campaign on behalf of the modern view of the solar system is one of the most dramatic events in the history of relations between Christianity and science – endlessly portrayed as a battle between theological interests and scientific freedom. But this traditional story is filled with factual errors. And when human fears, rivalries, revenge and the like are taken into account, the story takes on an altogether different cast. In Prof. Lindberg’s retelling, the ideological side of the story is balanced with its richness as a human event.

The universe computes: every atom, electron, and elementary particle registers bits of information, and every time two particles collide, those bits are flipped and processed. By ‘hacking’ the computational power of the universe, we can build quantum computers that store and process information at the level of atoms and electrons. This computational capacity underlies the generation of complex systems, and provides insight into the origin of life and its future

Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2 is usually associated with the idea that small amounts of mass can be converted into large amounts of energy. For fundamental physics, however, the more important idea is the opposite: researchers want to explain how mass itself arises. Prof. Wilczek explains how this goal can, to a remarkable extent, be achieved. He also discusses some of the consequences – such as an explanation of why gravity is so feeble – and gives suggestions for new physical phenomena that may be found at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Learn how, for centuries, scientists were convinced that solids (as well as decorative patterns like tiling and quilts) could only have certain symmetries – such as square, hexagonal and triangular – and how a new kind of pattern, known as a “quasicrystal,” shatters these restrictions and allows an infinite number of new structures. Prof. Steinhardt shows beautiful patterns and offers a series of geometrical toys and games demonstrating how this barrier was overcome – leading to insights on how to grow perfect “quasicrystals,” and inspiring new materials and technological applications.

Prof. Witten examines key discoveries of 20th century physics such as the detection of antimatter. He then describes how many of today’s leading scientists are working at the high energy frontier in their quest to uncover the quantum structures of space and time. Prof. Witten is one of the world’s pre-eminent string theorists and is widely known for showing how five different variations of string theory belong within a single framework. His awards range from a MacArthur “genius grant” to the Fields Medal – the highest honour in mathematics.