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| 2008 Sir Neil Waters Distinguished LecturesThe Universe is a Strange Place Professor Frank WilczekHerman Feshbach Professor of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USAwere held at Te Manawa, Palmerston North on Tuesday 15 January, 2008 at 5.30 pm; and AbstractOver the course of the twentieth century we have constructed a very successful fundamental theory of the behavior of matter. Viewed from this perspective, the world looks very different from our everyday reality. It is a very strange place, and a beautiful one - in particular, we've come to understand that the building blocks of matter appear as notes in a Music of the Void. I'll describe this using a combination of facts, pictures, and jokes. Finally I'll discuss some recent discoveries indicating that the world is even stranger than we've understood so far, and how we're rising to the challenge. Prof. Frank WilczekFrank Wilczek has received many prizes for his work in physics, including the Nobel Prize of 2004 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University, when he was only 21 years old. He is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, axions, and the discovery and exploitation of new forms of quantum statistics (anyons). Review, mp3 and slides of Lecture The Institute of Fundamental Sciences wishes to acknowledge the generous support of the Massey University Foundation that made the visit possible. For further information on the Massey University Foundation or the Alumni and Friends Office please visit their website: http://alumni.massey.ac.nz. |
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