Public Lectures

Are you ready for this upgrade? The very foundation of computer science is changing. As Moore\'s Law draws to a close, rules of quantum physics are taking over. Learn how leading researchers are using counterintuitive effects, such as superposition, in their quest to build ultra-powerful quantum computers. You\'ll see how quantum particles behave, are controlled and, ultimately, used to calculate. quantum world, Raymond Laflamme, quantum mechanics, quantum information, quantum computing, information processing, Moore\'s Law, quantum scale, complexity theory, cryptography, qubits, quantum bits, quantum states, nuclear magnetic resonance, Turing

Do you have to see it to believe it? James Robert Brown, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, will discuss the highly interesting but controversial topic of the legitimate role of visual thinking in mathematics and science. Examples of picture proofs and thought experiments will be given. An explanation of how they work will be sketched. Proof, pictures, James Brown, axioms, sketches, experiment, Barwise, Godel, isomorphc homomorphic, intuitions, continuum hypothesis, refutation

For over three hundred years, physicists and mathematicians have been trying to understand how stable the Earth really is. Could gravitational forces from other planets lead to drastic changes in Earth’s orbit? Will we collide with other planets or be ejected into interstellar space? stability, solar systems, Scott Tremaine, Copernicus, Copernican principle, Kepler, Newton, motion, gravity, N-Body, dynamical system, Laplace, round off error, gravitational microlensing, MOSTorbit, chaos