The lecture is the 20th in the series of Royal Academy Nobel Laureate Lectures hosted by The Royal Danish Academy Of Sciences And Letters in collaboration with Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Professor Frank Wilzcek:
"QCD - quantum chromodynamics - is our modern fundamental theory of the most powerful force in nature, the strong nuclear force. After a brief oration in praise of the ideal mathematical beauty of QCD and its imposing experimental success, I will describe several of its ongoing and future applications at the frontiers of knowledge. These include the frontier of precision (muon g-2), the frontiers of high temperature and density (heavy ion collisions), the frontier of late stellar evolution (supernovae and neutron stars), and the frontiers of theoretical adventure and cosmology (axions)."
Dr. Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist, author, and intellectual adventurer. He has received many prizes for his work, including a Nobel Prize in Physics.
Frank has made seminal contributions to fundamental particle physics, cosmology and the physics of materials. His current theoretical research includes work on Axions, Anyons, and Time Crystals. These are concepts in physics which he named and pioneered. Each has become a major focus of research world-wide.
In recent years Frank has become fascinated with prospects for expanding perception (especially color perception) through technology. He is developing hardware and software tools for this.
Frank has authored several well-known books and writes a monthly "Wilczek's Universe" feature for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality”, distils the most profound and mind-expanding insights of modern science, and explores their implications for questions that are usually considered philosophical or even theological. Early reviews have been enthusiastic, including this from the New York Times: “Whether or not you’re accustomed reading physics for pleasure, the Nobel Laureate Frank Wilczek’s Fundamentals might be the perfect book for the winter of this plague year ... Wilczek writes with breathtaking economy and clarity, and his pleasure in his subject is palpable . . .”
Wilczek received a B.S. at the University of Chicago in 1970, and a PhD in physics at Princeton University in 1974. Currently he is the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at the MIT; Chief Scientist of the T. D. Lee Institute and Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Distinguished Professor at Arizona State University; and Professor at Stockholm University.
He has been married to Betsy Devine since 1973. They have two daughters.
Foto: Michael Clark