From Thales to Higgs, a Very Physical Promenade: A Show by Massimo Schuster
Date and Time
Friday Sep 21, 2018
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM EDT
September 21st, 2018. Doors will open at 6:30 pm and the show will begin promptly at 7:00 pm.
Location
The show will be on the Bard College campus in Olin Hall.
Fees/Admission
The show is free and open to the public. However, we ask that you reserve a seat by emailing Hal Haggard (haggard@bard.edu).
Contact Information
Hal Haggard, Bard College Physics Program.
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Description
I wanted to share with an audience my love for physics, but I couldn't find the way to do it. I met various physicists in France and Italy, but even if every one of them seemed interested in my project, with none did I feel the spark I was seeking. The breakthrough happened when I met Carlo Rovelli, author of the best-selling Seven Brief Lessons on Physics. With his help I succeeded in preparing this piece of narrative theater that deals with the birth and development of scientific thinking in Europe, from Thales of Miletus to the famous Higgs boson. Through various anecdotes, some true, some made up, but always plausible, I start with Thales, move on to Empedocles and Aristarchus, spend some time with Plato and Aristotle, then jump all the way to Einstein. All along, I use a simple language, understandable to everyone and hopefully entertaining. My goal is to explain how the world in which we live is at the same time simpler and more complex, but most of all more marvelous and fascinating, than most people think. Without trying to sell myself as a specialist of scientific thinking, which I'm not, my goal is to explain why physics is for me a constant source of inspiration and wonder.