Public Lecture: Neil Turok, Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics, University of Edinburgh and Roger Penrose Distinguished Visiting Chair, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
Thursday, June 25 at 5:00pm, SCGP Room 103
Reception at 4:30pm
Title: A Simpler Cosmology
Abstract: Recent observations reveal surprising simplicity and order in the universe, on both the largest and smallest visible scales. They are providing new clues about the fundamental laws of physics, suggesting simpler and more powerful unifying principles. Understanding the universe and its most basic laws helps us to appreciate our origins and place in the universe as well as the extraordinary possibilities which lie ahead. The profound knowledge we gain is not only humankind’s most precious possession, it is also completely free to share.
Neil is the inaugural Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics at Edinburgh. He was born in South Africa to activist parents in the anti-apartheid movement. After studies in Cambridge and London and appointments in California and Chicago, he was Professor of Physics at Princeton, Chair of Mathematical Physics at Cambridge and Director of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Ontario.
Neil develops and tests theories of the universe and its basic laws, from the big bang to the far future. Several of his team’s predictions were confirmed, including correlations between the distribution of galaxies and the cosmic microwave background radiation. He has recently proposed a new paradigm for cosmology, connecting particles and forces to the dark matter, dark energy and primordial density variations. Its predictions will be tested in the coming decade.
In 2003, Neil founded the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), now Africa’s largest centre for postgraduate training and research in the mathematical sciences. Currently, AIMS operates 6 centres of excellence, in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon and Rwanda. AIMS has over 4,000 Master’s and PhD alumni. In the coming decade, AIMS plans to open 4 additional centres of excellence and to graduate 10,000 students at Master’s level and above.
For his research and for founding AIMS, Neil was awarded a TED Prize. In 2016, he was awarded the John Torrence Tate award of the American Institute of Physics for international leadership in physics. He is an Honorary Fellow of the UK Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
