Event Host: Department of Physics
Short Description: Join the Department of Physics for the 58th Annual Alpheus W. Smith Lecture featuring Sylvester James Gates, Jr., Brown Theoretical Physics Center director, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics, affiliate professor of mathematics and faculty fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
Join the Department of Physics for the 58th Annual Alpheus W. Smith Lecture featuring Sylvester James Gates, Jr., Brown Theoretical Physics Center director, Ford Foundation Professor of Physics, affiliate professor of mathematics and faculty fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.
Brown will be presenting "How Thinking Like A Geneticist Helped Me Solve A 25 Year-Old Einstein-Type Problem In String Theory."
Abstract: Imagine the world's smartest physicist made a mistake in a string theory calculation, while being observed by aliens in a passing starship. If the aliens are to communicate a helpful comment, the earth-bound physicist must account for Relativity and Quantum Theories simultaneously. For over two decades, the resolution to this puzzle was unknown. Using ideas from geneticists, to sort through 4,294,967,296 functions, led to a solution in the summer of 2020.
