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The Hewlett-Packard Science Lectures
were established in 1996 as a forum for improving the public understanding
of science.
Held at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, they
provide an opportunity for the public to hear distinguished lecturers
discuss a broad range of scientific topics, from current research
to the interaction between science, technology, art and society.
The lectures are widely publicised to schools, colleges and universities
and to other companies. The lectures are aimed at an audience
which has an interest in science but is not necessarily expert
in any branch.
HP Laboratories Bristol is located at Long Down Avenue, Stoke
Gifford, Bristol BS34 8QZ. Lectures are held in Building 3. For
directions and a map, go here.
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Jim Al-Khalili, Faster Than The Speed of Light?
The recent experiment involving neutrinos supposedly breaking the speed of light barrier between CERN in Switzerland and Grand Sasso in Northern Italy has captured the world’s imagination. The reason is that this result violates one of the central tenets of Einstein’s special theory of relativity: that the speed of light (about one billion km/hr) is the maximum speed possible in our universe. If exceeded then it could lead to all sorts of paradoxes arising from the way space and time are affected at such speeds, even allowing for the possibility of travelling back through time. The experiment was greeted with skepticism with physicists so outraged than one even threatened to eat his boxers on live TV if it was proved correct. So what is all the fuss about? Why should nothing go faster than light? And what are the implications if the experiment turns out to be correct? Would over a century of modern physics need to be overturned?
For further information, click here
Cabot Auditorium, 5pm
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