Winter Public Lecture Series in Physics
in honour of Alexander and Leicester McAulay

The Big Unanswered Questions
in Physics 2005

Prof. John Dickey
School of Mathematics and Physics, University of Tasmania

8:00PM, Wednesday, May 4, 2005
Physics Lecture Theatre 1
Sandy Bay Campus, University of Tasmania

 

ABSTRACT:
The year 2005 has been designated the international year of physics, in commemoration of Einstein‚s remarkable accomplishments of 1905, when he published papers on relativity, atomic theory, and the quantum theory of radiation. Looking back and looking forward, this talk will give a summary of the impact of physics on human civilisation and thought over the last century, and a speculation on what we can hope for in the next hundred years. >From the smallest, sub-nuclear scales to the largest, cosmological problems, physics and astronomy are now struggling with the biggest and most profound questions that we know how to ask. In speculating on the future, it is helpful to look back at the example of 1905 to see how different the universe looked at that time, and what forced people to change their minds about the nature of space and time, causality and determinism, and the beginning and size of the universe.


SPEAKER PROFILE:
Professor John Dickey has been teaching at the University of Tasmania since July 2004. Before that he was Professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota for 22 years. He was trained at Stanford University (B.S., Physics, 1972) and Cornell University (M.S. Astrophysics, 1974, and Ph.D., Astronomy, 1977), and he worked at the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory (Massachusetts, U.S.) and the U.S. National Radio Astronomy Observatory as a staff astronomer. His research interests include the structure of the Milky Way and other galaxies and the interstellar medium, the gas between the stars.

This is the first lecture in this year's Winter Public Lecture Series in Physics. The series started in 2002 and is held in honour of Alexander and Leicester McAulay, two renowned Physics professors, who were inspiring teachers and did significant research at the University of Tasmania during the early years. Further information is available from Dr. Marc Duldig, ph. (03)62323333 e-mail: Marc.Duldig@aad.gov.au or Dr Elizabeth Chelkowska, ph. (03)62262725, e-mail: Elizabeth.Chelkowska@utas.edu.au. We are negotiating further lectures in the series. Details will appear on the web pages of the AIP Tasmanian Branch: http://www.phys.utas.edu.au/physics/AIP_TasBranch/