Scirens.com is proud to partner with Perimeter Institute for two live webcasts on June 22nd and 23rd at 8 PM EDT: Emmy Noether: Her life, work, and influence (Monday) and The Genesis and Renaissance of General Relativity (Tuesday). These free public lectures are part of the Convergence–Perimeter’s first-ever alumni reunion and a new kind of physics conference providing a “big picture” overview of fundamental physics and its future.
Emmy Noether: Her life, work, and influence
June 22 at 8 PM EDT
Emmy Noether was a giant of mathematics whose work tied together two fundamental concepts: conservation laws and symmetries in nature. But who was she, and why does her work still have such impact? Mathematician Peter Olver explores Noether’s life and career, and delves into the curious history of her famous theorems. Physicist Ruth Gregory looks at the lasting impact of Noether’s theorem, and how it connects with the Standard Model and Einstein’s general relativity.
The Genesis and Renaissance of General Relativity
June 23 at 8 PM EDT
Albert Einstein developed the general theory of relativity 100 years ago as an answer to fundamental problems of contemporary physics. Yet the theory remained a marginal phenomenon of physics, especially in comparison to quantum theory, until the second half of the 20th century. That’s when the renaissance in general relativity combined with the rise of relativistic astrophysics, turning general relativity into a key instrument in astrophysics. This talk will trace the genesis of general relativity, look at Einstein’s research and the work of many other scientists who contributed to the theory, and show how general relativity eventually became not only a highly active field of research but one of the principal challenges to the conceptual unification of physics.
