Talks

How has the most celebrated scientific theory of the 20th century held up under the exacting scrutiny of planetary probes, radio telescopes and atomic clocks? After 100 years, was Einstein right? Clifford Will, Einstein, general relativity, spacetime, gravity wave, mercury perihelion, light, radioastronomy, gravititational lenses, quasars, pulsar

The problem of vacuum energy is reviewed. The observational evidence in favor of a non-zero cosmological constant is described. I then discuss several possible explanations for how a theoretically natural huge value of vacuum energy could be adjusted down to the unnaturally tiny but observed value.

At the turn of the century, numerous figures were attempting to form a new unitary science of psychology, modelled on how they imagined sciences like physics and chemistry functioned, with the discovery of universal laws and discoverers who would be proclaimed to be on the scale of Copernicus and Newton. It was intended that the formation of this new science would be nothing less than the completion of the scientific revolution, and that as a consequence, it would transform psychiatry, psychotherapy, the human sciences and indeed, all walks of life. Already by 1905, this dream was receding in an endless proliferation of competing and incompatible practices and conceptions - and one which has not ceased till this day. This talk reconstructs some of the multiple intersecting trajectories in one year of this would be science. Sonu Shamdansani, unitary science, psychology, psychoanalysis, mind and body, consciousness, 20th century, experimental, pathological, psychiatry, history

Few, if any, papers have attracted as much attention as Einstein’s June paper on the Special Theory of Relativity and no equation of physics has become part of common discourse except for the equation Einstein presented in his September paper: E = mc2. The concepts of space and time are ubiquitous in physics and, since the Special Theory of Relativity fundamentally altered these concepts, the impact of the June paper on physics has been pervasive. With the additional assertion, made in the June paper, that the speed of light is a constant for all observers, time and space became relative. From his Theory of Relativity, Einstein produced his September surprise: ponderable mass and incorporeal energy are equivalent. Humans distinguish between mass and energy, but Nature does not. John S Rigden, Einstein, special relativity, space, time, general relativity, energy, mass, speed of light,

This talk will take you on a tour through the mind of Albert Einstein, focussing on his discoveries of 1905 and the vital role his theories play in many of today\'s technologies. Damian Pope, Einstein, impact, modern technology, light, time, space, special relativity, time dilation, length contraction, curiosity

In 1905, there were prominent scientists who did not believe in atoms. Einstein did. His April and May papers were motivated in part to support the concept of atoms. The April paper, Einstein’s dissertation and one of his most cited papers, shows how the dimensions of a sugar molecule, suspended in water, can be determined. His method had many practical applications, hence the citations. In the May paper, a pollen particle took the place of a sugar molecule. For decades, the irregular, zig-zagging motion of pollen particles was a mystery. In a paper that is magic, Einstein showed how, with a simple ruler and a stopwatch, one could witness atoms at work and prove their existence. John S. Rigden, atoms, thermodynamics, kinetic theory, mechanism, coffee and cream, Brownian motion,

Einstein’s March paper, the only paper that Einstein himself called revolutionary, directly challenged the firm beliefs of all physicists. With compelling evidence in their support, physicists regarded the nature of light as a closed chapter: light was a continuous electromagnetic wave. Einstein countered this entrenched belief with the claim that light was a stream of discontinuous, isolated particles. The age-old conundrum of continuity vs. discontinuity was again called into play. Einstein’s contemporaries totally rejected his idea and they even apologized for his having “gone overboard.” In the end, however, Einstein’s light particle became part of the woodwork of physics. John S Rigden, Einstein, light, electromagnetic, continuity, discontinuity, atoms, wave lengths, photoelectric effect