Thursday, June 11, 2009, 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM,
Why is there something rather than nothing? And what does ‘nothing’ really mean? More than a philosophical musing, understanding nothing may be the key to unlocking deep mysteries of the universe, from dark energy to why particles have mass. Journalist John Hockenberry hosts Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek, esteemed cosmologist John Barrow, and leading physicists Paul Davies and George Ellis as they explore physics, philosophy and the nothing they share.
Moderator
John Hockenberry
Participants
John Barrow is a research professor of mathematical sciences in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge in England. He is also the author of nearly twenty books for a general audience, including The Book of Nothing, and is the director of the Millennium Mathematics Project, a mathematics education initiative. read more
Paul Davies is Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University and the co-Director of the ASU Cosmology Initiative. His research interests range from the origin of the universe to the origin of life. read more
George Ellis is Professor Emeritus of Applied Mathematics at the University of Capetown, and investigates the physical foundations of the flow of time.. He is the co-author with Stephen Hawking of The Large Scale Structure of Space Time. read more
John Hockenberry is an award-winning journalist with twenty-five years experience in radio, broadcast television and print. He is co-host of WNYC and PRI's The Takeaway, host on The DNA Files, and a contributor to The Infinite Mind. read more
Professor Frank Wilczek is considered one of the world's eminent theoretical physicists. In 2004, he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction – key to several major problems in particle physics and beyond. read more
