Two prominent scientists — one, an experimental physicist and expert on Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity from Stanford University, and the other, a Wolf Prize-winning mathematical physicist from the University of Oxford renowned for his contributions to the theory of non-periodic tilings and the foundations of quantum theory — will visit Texas A&M University next week to present their views of faith, science and society as part of the university’s ninth annual Trotter Endowed Lecture Series.
Francis Everitt, research professor in the W.W. Hansen Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford and recipient of the 2005 NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal (highest honor for non-governmental employees), and Sir Roger Penrose, Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at Oxford and winner of the Royal Society’s 2008 Copley Medal, will deliver a joint public lecture Thursday (March 11) at 7 p.m. in Rudder Theater. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be followed by a reception in Rudder Exhibit Hall.
Everitt, an expert in both space research and physics history, is principal investigator of the Gravity Probe B (GP-B) experiment, a collaboration between Stanford, NASA and Lockheed Martin Corp. that is testing predictions of Einstein’s 1916 theory of gravitation using four ultra-precise gyroscopes that have been orbiting the Earth in a satellite since 2004. He contends that science is explanation but also adventure, discovery, delight, repeated encounters with mystery and — at its best — intense moral discipline. In his talk, “Mystery in Science, Reason in Religion: How the Two Intersect and Overlap,” Everitt will present how mystery and moral discipline permeate both science and religion and how reason affects each in the context of Christian faith.
Penrose originated twistor theory, which seeks to unite Einstein’s general theory of relativity with quantum mechanics, and has made major contributions to many areas of physics and geometry, including non-periodic tilings, which cannot be shifted and still match the original pattern. One such example graces the first-floor atrium area of Texas A&M’s George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy. His talk, “Did the Universe Have a Beginning,” will explore the philosophical implications of conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC), which Penrose offers as an alternative scheme to the prevailing theory that the universe started with a Big Bang.
“Once again, we are very fortunate to have such world-class scientists come to Texas A&M to discuss ideas of such far-reaching interest,” said Dr. H. Joseph Newton, dean of the College of Science.
Everitt obtained his doctorate at the University of London (Imperial College) in 1959 for research under Nobel laureate P.M.S. Blackett. He then spent two years at the University of Pennsylvania working on liquid helium. In 1962, Everitt joined William Fairbank and Leonard Schiff in the Stanford Physics Department as the first full-time research worker on the GP-B experiment. His efforts advanced the state-of-the-art in the areas of cryogenics, magnetics, quantum devices, telescope design, control systems, quartz fabrication techniques, metrology and, most of all, gyroscope technology. His leadership as the principal investigator for GP-B advanced the GP-B program from the concept and technology development stages to the experiment’s launch on April 20, 2004, and its ensuing orbital operations.
A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) since 2006, Everitt has been a member of numerous national and international committees, including the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Committee on Relativity, the NASA Management Operations Working Group (MOWG) in Shuttle Astronomy and the NASA Astrophysics Council. His many awards include the Tyndall Prize in Experimental Physics, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the 1997 Marcel Grossmann Award. In addition, he has written extensively on the history of 19th and 20th century physics, including a biography of Maxwell and most recently an article “Kelvin, Maxwell, Einstein, and the Ether: Who was Right about What?”
Penrose earned his bachelor of science in mathematics at University College, London, in 1952 and his doctorate in algebraic geometry at St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1957. In addition to his appointment at Oxford, he has held several teaching and research positions in the United Kingdom and United States. He is a visiting professor at Queen Mary, University of London, and also holds the Francis and Helen Pentz Distinguished Professorship of Physics and Mathematics at Penn State University. Penrose was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1972, knighted in 1994 for services to science, and appointed to the Order of Merit in 2000.
A foreign member of the National Academy of Sciences, Penrose has won numerous awards, including the 1971 Heinemann Prize, the Royal Astronomical Society’s 1975 Eddington Medal (shared with Cambridge theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, for whom Penrose served as faculty adviser), the Royal Society’s 1985 Royal Medal and 2008 Copley Medal, the 1988 Wolf Foundation Prize for Physics (also shared with Hawking), the Albert Einstein Society’s 1990 Albert Einstein Medal, and the London Mathematical Society’s 1991 Naylor Prize and 2004 de Morgan Medal. In addition to holding 14 honorary degrees, Penrose has written many scientific papers and several books, including his most recent, “The Road to Reality.”
The Trotter Prize and Endowed Lecture Series, presented by the College of Science in collaboration with The Dwight Look College of Engineering, seeks to illuminate connections between science and religion, often viewed in academia as non-overlapping if not rival world views. The series was established by Dr. Ide P. Trotter Jr. and Luella H. Trotter with a matching contribution from ExxonMobil Corp. in 2001 to honor Ide P. Trotter Sr., former dean of Texas A&M University’s Graduate School, and to recognize pioneering contributions to the understanding of the role of information, complexity and inference in illuminating the mechanisms and wonder of nature.
For more information on the event, contact Jennifer Holle in the College of Science Dean’s Office at (979) 845-7361.
Learn more about the history of the Trotter Lecture Series and past presenters.
Contact: Shana K. Hutchins, (979) 862-1237
Tags: Francis Everitt, Penrose, Trotter Lecture
Dear Sir/ Madam,
I am delighted that you are sponsoring the lectures of Sir Roger Penrose and Dr Francis Everitt. I regret I am unable to attend this lecture simply because I live in Maryland. I received the notification of this event from Gravity Probe-B newsletter from Stanford University.It will be greatly appreciated if you would kindly post the transcripts of these lectures on your web site sometime in the near future so all of us can read it. Where is Public Television? They broadcasted Stephen Hawking’s lectures at Cambridge. Why not this event? Sir Penrose and Dr Everitt are the best scientific minds. it will be great to hear, see or read their presentations.
Thanks,
Erumbi Srinivasan