Symmetries in Physics, From the Greeks to Modern Physics
by
Prof.Hasan Padamsee(Cornell University)
→
Europe/Rome
Rostagni meeting room (INFN)
Rostagni meeting room
INFN
Description
God thou great symmetry
Who put a biting lust in me
From whence my arrows spring
For all the wasted days
That I have spent in hopeless ways
Give me One perfect thing
Anna Wickham
The lamp of symmetry has guided developments from Pythagoras to Gell-Mann. It may be surprising to realize that the concept of gravity originated with the Greeks as the first connection to the spherical shape of the earth. Galileo penetrated the laws of motion using symmetry ideas. Symmetry guided the development of elements from Aristotle's earth, air, fire, water and ether to Mendelyeev's Periodic Table to Quarks and Leptons. And now we search for SuperSymmetry. It is equally fascinating to see how the ideas of symmetry-breaking evolved from early stages to the modern CP violation.