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PUBLIC EVENT
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Department of Physics and Engineering Physics |
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Was Einstein
Right?
Clifford
M. Will
Professor of Physics
Washington University, St. Louis
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?
In this lecture, celebrating the 100th anniversary of
Einstein’s “miracle year” and the World Year of Physics, we relate the story of
testing relativity, from the 1919 measurements of the bending of light to the
1980s measurements of a decaying double-neutron-star system that reveal the
action of gravity waves, to a 2004 space experiment to test whether spacetime
“does the twist”. We will show how a
revolution in astronomy and technology led to a renaissance of general
relativity and how it plays an important role in daily life.
Clifford Martin Will is the James S. McDonnell
Professor of Physics, and member of the McDonnell
Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University
in St. Louis.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario,
he obtained his B.Sc. from McMaster
University and his Ph.D.
in Physics from Caltech. Distinguished positions include: Enrico Fermi
Postdoctoral Fellow at the University
of Chicago, Assistant Professor of
Physics at Stanford
University, an Alfred P.
Sloan Foundation Fellow and a Mellon Foundation Junior Faculty Fellow while at
Stanford. He has published over 160 scientific articles or abstracts and
two books, Theory and Experiment in
Gravitational Physics and Was
Einstein Right?
Biography of Dr. Will
Music
prior to the lecture will be provided by The Borealis String Quartet. Selections will include “Water to Ice”, a
specially commissioned musical composition written by Aaron Hryciw, a Ph.D.
physics student at the University
of Alberta, in
recognition of 2005 as the World Year of Physics.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
7:30 p.m.
Convocation Hall
University of Saskatchewan
College Building
Tickets: Free.
Click here to reserve tickets or call 966 6396 or email granrude@admin.usask.ca. Reservations are recommended. Unreserved tickets may be available at the
door.
Convocation Hall Access Information.
PEP World Year of Physics Home Page
Printable poster (in PDF format)