Inauguration of the Centre for Geometry and Physics with lecture by Honorary Doctor Nikita Nekrasov
- Date: 24 January 2024, 13:00–15:00
- Location: Ångström Laboratory, lecture hall Eva von Bahr
- Type: Lecture
- Lecturer: Nikita Nekrasov
- Web page
- Organiser: Department of Mathematics and Department of Physics and Astronomy
- Contact person: Marie Chajara Svensson
The Centre for Geometry and Physics starts 2024 based on grants from the Swedish Research Council's excellence initiative for projects with great potential for innovative research. Key speaker at the inauguration is Honorary Doctor Nikita Nekrasov who will give a popular science lecture with the title "The Natural Language: geometry of physics". See programme and abstract below. Welcome!
Programme
13:00 - Welcome and presentation of the Centre
Welcome from Prof. Charlotte Platzer Björkman, Vice-Rector of the Faculty of Science and Technology
Short presentation of the Centre by its Director Prof. Tobias Ekholm
Welcome from the Department of Physics and Astronomy (Richard Brenner, Head of Departmement) and from the Department of Mathematics (Georgios Dimitroglou Rizell, Head of Department)
Introduction of the honorary doctor, Prof. Nekrasov by Prof. Maxim Zabzine
13:30 - Honorary doctoral lecture by Prof. Nikita Nekrasov
Title: The Natural Language: geometry of physics
Nikita Nekrasov, active at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics, USA, is a world-leading expert in theoretical and mathematical physics and one of the world's top researchers in modern quantum field theory and string theory. His work covers both physical and mathematical aspects. He made his first visit abroad as an exchange student during his undergraduate studies at Uppsala University. More about Nikita Nekrasov on Wikipedia.
Abstract
Floccinaucinihilipilification is a significantly long English word, whose meaning is the habit of estimating something as worthless. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is one of the longest English words signifying the fear of long words. These and other long words are the result of word fusion, a product of evolution of the natural language. Not every fusion is stable, (think of Insta), and sometimes words or their sequences shrink, becoming abbreviations or actual words, such as laser, for example.
These joining or splitting, growth or decay processes in language have analogies in the physics world of elementary particles and their interactions, where they were studied in the last hundred years. Apart from the theory of extremely small things, physicists have a theory of extremely large things, where gravity is dominating force.
In my lecture we shall talk about geometry used to formulate these theories, and speculate about the prospects of its use to understand the evolution of natural languages.
14:30 - Fika (coffee/tea and cake)
If you want to have coffee and cake, please register