April 23, 2015
Author, journalist Michael Brooks to deliver 2015 Peterson General Public Lecture in Physics
Michael Brooks will present the 2015 Chester Peterson Jr. Public Lecture in Physics. The lecture, "Welcome to Wonderland: Making sense of life in a quantum universe," will be at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 27, in the Hemisphere Room of Hale Library at Kansas State University. Brooks is noted for explaining complex scientific research and findings to the general public.
Brooks will discuss how what we have learned about the subatomic world challenges our fundamental understanding of the cosmos. The very stuff from which we are made seems to be able to exist in two places at once, and exhibit almost telepathic connections that Einstein once dismissed as too spooky to be real. These discoveries are redrawing our understanding of space and time and raising questions about human freewill. However, they also present new opportunities: quantum weirdness appears to explain some of nature's most baffling processes, opening up the chance to develop startling new technologies. In this lecture, Brooks will explore how our new view of the quantum world has shifted our perspective on the universe, and our place within it.
Brooks has a doctorate in quantum physics from the University of Sussex and is a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He is a consultant editor at New Scientist magazine and writes a weekly column for the U.K.'s New Statesman. He is the author of several books, including "At The Edge of Uncertainty" and "Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science," as well as the bestselling nonfiction work "13 Things That Don't Make Sense."
His writing also has appeared in the Guardian, the Independent, the Observer, the Times Higher Education, the Philadelphia Inquirer and many other newspapers and magazines. He has lectured at various places, including New York University, the American Museum of Natural History and Cambridge University.
Copies of Brooks' newest book, "At The Edge of Uncertainty," will be available for sale outside of the Hemisphere Room in the Gallery at 4 p.m. Brooks will be available to sign the book at that time and immediately following the lecture for a short time.
Refreshments will be available at 4 p.m. in the foyer of the Hemisphere Room.
The lecture is open to the public and is free of charge. Students, faculty and community members are encouraged to attend.
This lecture series is supported by an endowment from Chester Peterson Jr. aimed at publicizing and presenting an annual public lecture series concerning cosmology or quantum mechanics.