FacebookTwitterYoutubeInstagramGoogle Plus

Until the End of Time

Saturday, May 30, 2015
3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Could time as we know it come to an end? Does the very question blow your mind a little? This World Science Festival salon explored this idea by examining the Big Bang and the mysteries of black holes, where, according to the laws of physics, time itself comes to an abrupt halt.

The World Science Festival’s annual salon series offers in-depth conversations with leading scientists, extending the discussion of the Festival’s premier public programs to graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and well-informed members of the general public.

This program is part of the Big Ideas Series, made possible with support from the John Templeton Foundation.

Photograph: Jon Smith

Moderator

George MusserAuthor

George Musser is a contributing editor at Scientific American and Nautilus magazines, a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT for 2014–2015, and the author of Spooky Action at a Distance (2015) and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to String Theory (2008).

Read More

Participants

Vijay BalasubramanianPhysicist

As a theoretical physicist at the University of Pennsylvania, Vijay Balasubramanian pursues research in two different fields: string theory and theoretical neuroscience. He is an expert in statistical inference and “Occam’s Razor”—the trade-off between simple and accurate mathematical models.

Read More
Janna LevinPhysicist

Janna Levin is a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University and the author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space.

Read More
Lee SmolinTheoretical Physicist

Lee Smolin is a theoretical physicist who has made important contributions to the search for quantum gravity. Smolin is a founding faculty member at Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. His five books explore philosophical issues raised by contemporary physics and cosmology.

Read More