Public Evening Lectures
Public Evening Talk (in German)
Tuesday, 6 March 2018, 18:30 – 19:30, B Audimax
Prof. Dr. Vahid Sandoghdar, Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts, Erlangen / Friedrich Alexander Universität, Erlangen
is speaking about
“Physik und Medizin: von einzelnen Atomen im Vakuum zu einzelnen Proteinen in lebenden Zellen”
Abstract:
Proteine sind allgegenwärtige und bilden einige der wichtigsten Bestandteile einer biologischen Zelle. Ihre Struktur und Dynamik spielen eine entscheidende Rolle für ihre Funktion. Diese Prozesse können auf einer Zeitskala zwischen Nanosekunden bis hin zur Minuten oder Stunden ablaufen. Die Untersuchung von einzelnen Proteinen mit sehr hoher räumlicher als auch zeitlicher Auflösung verspricht dabei viele neue Erkenntnisse. In diesem Vortrag werfen wir einen Blick auf die aktuellen Entwicklungen verschiedener optischer Methoden der letzen zwei Jahrzehnte ein, die neue Einblicke im Bereich der Life Sciences ermöglicht haben. Häufig werden hierbei die Methoden und Konzepte der experimentellen Physik genutzt um aufregenden und noch offene Fragestellungen aus der medizinischen Grundlagenforschung zu beantworten. Anhand neuester Ergebnisse aus unserem eigenen Labor zeige ich wie wir Techniken der Tieftemperatur-Mikroskopie und der Interferometrie nutzen, um neues Licht auf die Struktur und Dynamik von Proteinen zu werfen.
Lise-Meitner-Lecture (in English)
Thursday, 8 March 2018, 18:30 – 19:30, B Audimax
Prof. Dr. Nicola Spaldin, ETH Zürich
is speaking about
“From Materials to Cosmology: Studying the early universe under the microscope”
Abstract:
What happened in the early universe just after the Big Bang? This is one of the most intriguing basic questions in all of science, but it is extraordinarily difficult to study because of insurmountable issues associated with replaying the Big Bang in the laboratory. I will explore one way in which scientists are trying to find the answer, by using laboratory materials as testbeds for physical laws proposed to describe the formation of early-universe structures known as cosmic strings. I will show that a so-called "multiferroic'' material, with its coexisting magnetic and electric dipoles, generates structures that are equivalent to cosmic strings, and will present results of measurements on the material suggesting that cosmic strings indeed formed as cosmologists think.
Max-Von-Laue-Lecture (in English)
Thursday, 8 March 2018, 20:00 – 21:00, B Audimax
Prof. Dr. Paul G. Richards, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
is speaking about
“Scientific Work in Support of Bans on Nuclear Testing: Lessons for Science Advice ”
Abstract:
The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was finalized in 1996, but cannot enter into force until a few more key signatures and ratifications are obtained. In practice this treaty has stopped nuclear testing by all but North Korea. The CTBT is associated with a complex verification system. Several different approaches combine to give excellent capability to monitor for nuclear explosions.
The talk will review the principal monitoring methods. Some of the most important are provided by seismology. The presentation also describes how most methods of explosion monitoring evolved, mainly from 1945 to 1996 when more than 2000 nuclear test explosions were conducted. The goal then was to monitor ongoing weapons development by potential adversaries. Today the treaty context is nuclear arms control, involving very different agencies, different objectives, and different attitudes to technical issues. The talk also describes several difficulties in giving valid science advice, eventually accepted, that was not initially welcomed by sponsoring organizations.