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Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM

Monday, February 6, 2006 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium

Mario Livio

"The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved"

ABSTRACT -- What do the basic laws of nature, human perception, the music of J.S. Bach, and the selection of mates have in common? They are all characterized by certain symmetries. Symmetry is the concept that bridges the gap between the world of theoretical physics and psychology, between science and art. Yet the "language" of symmetry - group theory - emerged from a most unlikely source: an equation that couldn't be solved. This talk will discuss the story of symmetry, of group theory, and of the mathematical prodigies who opened the door for these concepts.

SPEAKER -- Dr. Mario Livio is a Senior Astronomer and the former Head of the Science Division at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), the institute that conducts the scientific program of the Hubble Space Telescope. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics from Tel Aviv University in Israel and was a professor in the Physics Department at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology from 1981 to 1991, when he joined STScI. Dr. Livio has published hundreds of scientific papers and has received numerous awards for research and for excellence in teaching. He is the author of The Golden Ratio, a highly acclaimed book about mathematics and art for which he received the International Pythagoras Prize and the Peano Prize, and The Accelerating Universe.




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