Hey all! Unfortunately, the weather last Thursday put a damper on our plans for public observing. The good news is that Dave Goldberg, a cosmologist and popular science author, still made it to campus for a whole day of lecturing and a public talk. Dave has just published a new book titled The Universe in The Rearview Mirror, which is all about the idea of symmetry and why it is integral to most branches of physics. I’ll borrow a word he used a lot on campus and say that the book is ‘awesome’! It is both comprehensible and mind-blowing, and I highly recommend it to anyone with any level of interest in physics. Dave sat in on a couple of astro classes during the day, teaching an engaging lecture on clusters and gravitational lensing in the upper-level galactic astronomy course. He then gave a public talk about the idea of symmetry in physics, outlining some key principles and covering a wide range of topics and examples. Pictures from the talk will follow soon, and once again I recommend his book to anyone interested in physics on any level!
Lee Rosenthal, ’15
Thanks, Lee! I had a great time, and was amazed that so many people made it out despite the apocalypse going on outside.