A Century of Ideas: Personal Perspectives from a Selection of the Greatest Minds of the Twentieth Century (Fundamental Theories of Physics)

Shortly after its inauguration in 1985 the Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad, India, started a series of lectures by Nobel Laureates and other scientists of international renown, mostly on Physics and Astronomy. The present collection mostly consists of lectures on frontier topics. The transcript of each lecture is preceded by a short biography of the Nobel Laureate/Scientist in question. The lectures are aimed at a wide non-specialist but higher educated audience. Content: Fifty Years of Cosmology Fred Hoyle. Science as an Adventure Hermann Bondi. The Early Universe William Fowler. The Long-Term Future of Particle Accelerators Simon van der Meer. Energy and Evolution George Porter. The Wonders of Pulsars Antony Hewish. Is the Future Given? Changes in our Description of Nature Ilya Prigogine. Bubbles, Foams and other Fragile Objects J.-P. De Gennes. Beyond the Standard Model: Will it be the Theory of Everything? Yuval Ne'eman. Living Joyfully with Complexity in Chemistry and Culture Roald Hoffmann. A Confrontation with Infnity Gerard 'tHooft. The Creative and Unpredictable Interaction of Science and Technology Charles Townes. The Link Between Neutrino Masses and Proton Decay in Supersymmetric Unification Jogesh Pati. The Nature of Discovery in Physics Douglas D. Osheroff. Symmetry in the Micro World - A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner B.G. Sidharth Title 4 Copyright 5 Preface 8 Contents 10 List of Contributors 12 Fifty Years of Cosmology 14 Science as an Adventure 26 The Early Universe 32 The Long-Term Future of Particle Accelerators 40 Energy and Evolution 56 The Wonders of Pulsars 68 Is the Future Given? Changes in Our Description of Nature 78 Bubbles, Foams and Other Fragile Objects 90 Beyond the Standard Model: Will it be the Theory of Everything? 100 Living Joyfully with Complexity in Chemistry and Culture 114 A Confrontation with Infinity 122 The Creative and Unpredictable Interaction of Science and Technology 136 The Link Between Neutrino Masses and Proton Decay in Supersymmetric Unification 152 The Nature of Discovery in Physics 188 Symmetry in the Micro World – A Conversation with Nobel Laureate Eugene Wigner 218 Shortly after its inauguration in 1985 the Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad, India, started a series of lectures by Nobel Laureates and other scientists of international renown, usually in Physics and Astronomy, sometimes in Life Sciences and Chemistry. The present collection mostly consists of lectures on frontier topics. The transcript of each lecture is preceded by a short biography of the Nobel Laureate/Scientist in question. The lectures are aimed at, and accessible to a wide non-specialist but higher educated audience The BM Birla Science Centre, part of the Birla Group, has blossomed into India's foremost institution for the dissemination of science. This collection consists of lectures on topics in Physics and Astronomy. The transcript of each lecture is preceded by a introduction to, and biography of, the Nobel Laureate/Scientist in question Edited By B.g. Sidharth. Includes Bibliographical References.