Beauty & Truth
Duration: 58 mins 39 secs
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| Description: |
Darwin College Lecture Series 2011
"Beauty & Truth" by Professor Lord Robert May of Oxford (Oxford) |
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| Created: | 2011-01-25 15:28 |
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| Collection: | Beauty – Darwin College Lecture Series 2011 |
| Publisher: | Darwin College |
| Copyright: | Darwin College |
| Language: | eng (English) |
| Distribution: |
World
(downloadable)
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| Keywords: | Darwin College Lecture Series; Beauty; Truth; |
| Categories: |
iTunes - Mathematics |
| Explicit content: | No |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Screencast: | No |
| Bumper: | UCS Default |
| Trailer: | UCS Default |
| Abstract: | This lecture will begin by distinguishing three different kinds of “truths”: First, the apodictic truths of mathematics; second, the experimentally-tested but always contingent truths of the sciences; and the unshakable truths of fixed belief systems. I will then attempt to convey some of the pure beauty which mathematical truths can have, and discuss ways in which such beauty has – and has not – been a useful guide to scientific understanding of the nature of the world around us. I will also offer some speculations on the evolutionary origins of “faith-based truths”.
Biography Robert McCredie May, Lord May of Oxford, OM AC Kt FRS , holds a Professorship jointly at Oxford University and Imperial College, London and is a Fellow of Merton College, Oxford. He was President of The Royal Society (2000-2005), and before that Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government and Head of the UK Office of Science and Technology (1995-2000). His career includes a Personal Chair in Physics at Sydney University aged 33, Class of 1877 Professor of Zoology at Princeton, and in 1988 a move to Britain as Royal Society Research Professor. Particular interests include how dynamical systems are structured and respond to change, particularly with respect to infectious diseases and biodiversity. Honours include: the Royal Swedish Academy’s Crafoord Prize, the Swiss-Italian Balzan Prize, the Japanese Blue Planet Prize, and the Royal Society’s Copley Medal, its oldest (1731) and most prestigious award. |
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| Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) | 44100 Hz | 126.25 kbits/sec | 54.11 MB | Listen | Download | |
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