Please note: due to unforeseen circumstances, the existing lecture with Rob Moore: “A Material World – Building a Future from the Atoms Up” required rescheduling. It has been replaced as follows.
The Perimeter Institute of Theoretical Physics in Canada is about to kick off this year’s series of free public lectures with a live webcast by quantum foundations specialist Robert Spekkens on February 7 at 7pm ET (February 8 at 11am AEDT).
Spekkens is a faculty member at Perimeter Institute whose research examines the foundations of quantum theory. He co-edited the book Quantum Theory: Informational Foundations and Foils, and he is a Project Leader of the international research collaboration “Quantum Causal Structures.” In 2012, he won first prize in the Foundational Questions Institute (FQXi) essay contest “Questioning the Foundations: Which of Our Assumptions Are Wrong?” He lives in Waterloo with his wife and three-year-old son.
In a talk entitled The riddle of the quantum sphinx: Quantum states and category mistakes he will explain why he thinks many quantum mysteries are a result of fairly simple mistakes concerning the nature of quantum states. Along the way he will discuss Plato and Heisenberg, poorly implemented drug trials, and Egyptian hieroglyphs to make his case.
There are options for those who cannot attend in person. Catch it live over the net, or on the YouTube channel within 24 hours of the event. There is also the option of accessing previous lectures, and signing up for alerts so you do not miss out on upcoming ones.
Originally published by Cosmos as Quantum webcast this week
Geetanjali Rangnekar
Geetanjali Rangnekar is a science communicator and editor, based in Adelaide, Australia.
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