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Physical Society Colloquium
Professor David Rowe
Department of Physics It is hard to conceive of a world without symmetry. The very existence of matter and life relies on repeated patterns; elements are made up of identical atoms and molecules. Thus,it is not surprising that Group Theory, the mathematical language of symmetry, is the most important theoretical tool of the physicist. Indeed, one can claim that almost any model is amenable to solution only if it has an underlying symmetry. In this talk, I will give examples of how symmetries and patterns are used to recognize, classify and interpret physical phenomena and how group theory is used to develop models and make predictions.
Friday, February 19th 1999, 14:30 |