Abstract

Sir Michael Berry, Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Bristol, and winner of the infamous Ig Nobel Prize, gives a talk on the links between physics and the entirety of human culture – see the abstract below for more detail.

Admission is free to CUPS members, or £2 otherwise. As always, wine and cheese will be served after the talk.

(Abstract:) Connections between physics and technological invention and aspects of human life that seem far from science are both unexpected and unexpectedly common. And rather than flowing one way – from physics to gadgets – the connections form an intricate web, linking all aspects of human culture, in a way that frustrates our convenient compartmentalisations and coarse interventions aimed at promoting technology transfer. I will discuss this theme not abstractly but with examples, ranging from music to the colour of gold, and explain how quantum physics helps me do quantum physics (sic).