« An adventure in perception in mutliple dimensions »
Wow. Session Three, how good was that?! After George Smoot’s overview of the Standard Model and the next stages for particle physics brought the CERN audiences back from the break, Tara Shears introduced the final session of talks.
John Searle gave an enthralling talk, making the case for consciousness being neither purely spiritual nor purely material and taking a swipe at Geneva’s weather along the way. Indeed, the rain has continued to fall all day, but the level of interaction around the Globe and Auditorium has only risen! The spirit of collaboration, always strong here at CERN, was illustrated perfectly in Eliezer Rabinovici & Zehra Sayers’ about the SESAME project to build an international physics laboratory in the Middle East.
While we’re on physics, no conference at CERN these days would be complete without some mention of the Higgs boson, the discovery of which was announced last July. In that vein, viewers were treated to the world premiere of the TED-ED/CERN animation “The basics of bosons”. Theoretical physicist Gian Giudice took us through what the Higgs means for the fate of the Universe.
It’s not just established CERN physicists who can work with real science and data. Becky Parker gave an impassioned talk about how she is involving her school classes in putting particle detectors on satellites, and using the Grid and big data technology to make real discoveries. During the huge round of applause, Becky was joined no stage by four of her former students, all of whom are now part-way through highly technical university degrees. Finally, the excitement of the big ideas presented today coalesced during the inspiring performance of “Particles in Peace”.
George Smoot wrapped up proceedings by seeing how the TEDxCERN theme “multiplying dimensions” could be used to answer questions submitted by users on social media. Questions ranged from string theory, to juggling the many tasks of a busy modern life.
Speaking of being busy, it’s been a real pleasure to take you all on this journey with us. Thank you for joining us throughout the day. Let us know what you thought about the event by leaving comments on our Facebook page, or by tweeting us (mention @TEDxCERN or use the hashtag #TEDxCERN).