[SydPhil] Margaret Wertheim on 'Not the Higgs Boson: Physics on the fringe and what mainstream science can learn from outsiders', University of Sydney, Thursday 6 September

[Meredith Hall]

Margaret Wertheim on Not the Higgs Boson: Physics on the fringe and what mainstream science can learn from outsiders

In July this year the world went "Higgs mad" when scientists at CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs boson, a particle that plays a crucial role in the Standard Model of physics. If the Higgs hadn't been found it was beginning to look as if major parts of theoretical physics would have to be rethought. Even now its existence has to be confirmed. Yet with or without the Higgs, a growing number of dissident theorists believe the very foundations of physics are in need of renovation. Since CERN's announcement 'outsider physicists' have gathered at three international conferences to discuss alternative theories of reality. Many of these outsiders have little or no scientific training yet all are driven by a conviction that they can unlock the true secrets of the universe. Their efforts constitute a scientific parallel to 'outsider art' and a radically other conception of how science might be conducted. In this talk, acclaimed science writer Margaret Wertheim, author of the new book Physics on the Fringe, will discuss 'outsider physics' as a social and cultural phenomenon. What are the similarities between outsider science and outsider art? What are the differences? And why does the subject matter in the context of science today?
Margaret Wertheim is a science writer with degrees in physics and mathematics. She has written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the Guardian, and is the author of Pythagoras' Trousers and The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace. In her pioneering work in new methods of science communication, she founded the non-profit Institute for Figuring, through which she organised the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef project, a touring exhibition at the intersection of science and art.

The event will be hosted by Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at the Science Foundation of the Physics, University of Sydney.

Margaret's book Physics on the Fringe will be available for sale before and after the lecture.

Date: Thursday 6 September
Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm (followed by book signing)
Venue: Eastern Avenue Auditorium, Eastern Avenue, University of Sydney
Cost: Free and open to all, with online registration required
Registration: http://whatson.sydney.edu.au/events/published/sydney-ideas-physics-on-the-fringe2
More information: www.sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas<http://www.sydney.edu.au/sydney_ideas>


MEREDITH HALL | Program Manager
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