Renowned Harvard University Professor Lisa Randall, one of the world's leading theoretical physicists and cosmologists, will speak at the University of Colorado at Boulder on Monday, March 19, on hidden dimensions of the universe.
A professor of theoretical physics at Harvard, Randall will speak at 7:30 p.m. in Macky Auditorium for the 42nd George Gamow Memorial Lecture. The talk will focus on concepts from her 2005 book, "Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions" and is free and open to the public.
Randall's research focuses on elementary particles and fundamental forces and has involved the study of a wide variety of physics models, including extra dimensions of space. Published by HarperCollins, "Warped Passages" was cited by the New York Times as one of the 100 most notable books of 2005.
Randall will talk about concepts including relativity, string theory and cosmological inflation and will address several questions during the talk, including why people could be living in a three-dimensional universe floating in a four-dimensional space. She will explore the possibility that an invisible universe exists only fractions of an inch from the known universe in another dimension, which could explain phenomena seen in the known world, according to Randall.
Randall has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications and in 2004 was recognized as the most cited theoretical physicist in the world during the previous five years. She was featured in Newsweek's annual "Who's Next" issue in 2006, predicting top newsmakers in politics, business, science and the arts and was called "one of the most promising theoretical physicists of her generation" by the news magazine.
Upcoming physics experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator slated to open near Geneva later this year, are expected to answer questions about possible warped, extra dimensions that may exist, she said. Physicists will be looking for evidence of particular types of tiny particles associated with hidden dimensions that may be revealed by smashing protons together in the collider, which is contained in an underground, 17-mile-circumference tunnel.
Randall is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Physical Society and is a past winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship. She also is a past winner of a National Science Foundation Young Investigator award, a U.S. Department of Energy Outstanding Junior Investigator Award and the Westinghouse Science Talent Search.
Her research has been featured in such places as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the New Yorker, the BBC, PBS, the Dallas Morning News, Discover Magazine and Der Spiegel.
Randall earned a doctorate from Harvard in 1987 and was a faculty member at Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before returning to Harvard as a professor in 2001.
_The George Gamow Memorial Lecture Series began in 1971 and honors the late CU-Boulder physics professor who was pivotal in developing the big-bang theory of the creation of the universe. Gamow also was recognized for his many books popularizing science for non-scientific audiences. _
For more information about the George Gamow Memorial Lecture Series, call Nancy Lee Miller at (303) 492-2722 or visit the Web site: _