Newswise — The concept of time cannot be explained in simple terms. Even though it is a concept familiar to most, the passage of time remains one of the greatest enigmas of the universe. The philosopher Augustine once said: "What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know."
On Wednesday, December 1, as part of Perimeter Institute’s Public Lecture Series presented by Sun Life Financial, Eric Mazur, Dean of Applied Physics at Harvard University, will discuss the concept of time and review historical attempts to "stop time," that is, to capture events of very short duration. He will also present an overview of current research into ultrafast processes using short laser pulses.
Dr. Mazur leads a vigorous research program in optical physics and supervises one of the largest research groups in the Physics Department at Harvard University. He has made important contributions to spectroscopy, light scattering, the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with materials, and nanophotonics. In addition to his work in optical physics, Dr. Mazur is interested in education, science policy, outreach, and the public perception of science. To this end, he devotes part of his research group's effort to education research and finding verifiable ways to improve science education. In 1990, Dr. Mazur began developing Peer Instruction, a method for teaching large lecture classes interactively, which has garnered a large following, both nationally and internationally, and has been adopted across many science disciplines.
Dr. Mazur’s lecture, entitled “Stopping Time” will be held Wednesday, December 1 at 7:00 pm in Waterloo, Ontario. Tickets will be available starting Monday, November 15th, 2010.
Further details can be found at www.perimeterinstitute.ca.
ABOUT PERIMETER INSTITUTE:Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics is an independent, non-profit, scientific research and educational outreach organization where international scientists cluster to push the limits of our understanding of physical laws and develop new ideas about the very essence of space, time, matter and information. The Institute, located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, also provides a wide array of educational outreach activities to share the joy of scientific research, discovery and innovation. In partnership with the Governments of Ontario and Canada, PI is a successful example of private and public collaboration in science research and education.
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