Scientist explores awe and mystery of connection between maths and physics
Professor David Tong gives Penrose Biennial Lecture 2024: 鈥楳aths vs Physics: The Smackdown鈥
Theoretical physicist Professor David Tong has followed in the footsteps of his 鈥榟ero鈥 Sir Roger Penrose by giving the 2024 St John鈥檚 College Penrose Biennial Lecture, named in honour of the renowned mathematician, physicist and Nobel Laureate.
An audio recording is now available of the lecture, titled Maths vs Physics: The Smackdown, which was presented at St John鈥檚 College on 19 November by Professor Tong, who is Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College.
It is the second public lecture in the series named after Sir Roger, who is an Honorary Fellow and alumnus of St John鈥檚. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge honour, made all the more so because Roger Penrose has been a hero of mine for many, many decades,鈥 Professor Tong told the audience, after being introduced by Heather Hancock, The Master of St John鈥檚 College.
鈥淭here was a time when I was in the sixth form, when I only knew the names of two living physicists, and that was Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose.鈥
As a 17-year-old, Professor Tong found a copy of Sir Roger's book, The Emperor鈥檚 New Mind, in his local branch of WH Smiths and devoured it. 鈥淚 think of all the popular books I've read, it's possibly the single most inspiring one about theoretical physics,鈥 he added.
Now a leading theoretical physicist himself, Professor Tong has worked on many different aspects of physics, including quantum field theory, general relativity, cosmology, and condensed matter physics.
In his 鈥榖old and a bit provocative鈥 lecture in the spirit of Sir Roger, he talks about how mathematics and physics 鈥榓re inextricably intertwined鈥 in a beautiful and surprising way 鈥 and how that works. He then looks at how mathematicians and physicists view the foundations of their subjects, 鈥榓nd how very different they appear to be really almost intentionally with each other鈥 鈥 and the lessons that can be drawn from that.
Sir Roger gave the inaugural Penrose Biennial Lecture in February 2022. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2020 for work on black holes and he invented twistor theory, a key tool in quantum theory. His mathematical discoveries include a non-periodic form of tiling called Penrose tiling, an example of which can be seen at the entrance to the College鈥檚 Library in Chapel Court.
Published: 22/11/2024