Emmy Noether and the Fabric of Reality

Dr. Ransom Stephens

Darwin 103
3:00 PM

Dr. Ransom Stephens will discuss Emmy Noether, a female Jewish intellectual in Nazi Germany, who made perhaps the most significant discovery of the 20th century. Noether‚Äôs Theorem ties the laws of nature directly to the geometry of space and time, the very fabric of reality. It is the basis for all modern theories of physics. Two things should bother you about Noether‚Äôs Theorem: (1) how come so few people have heard of Emmy Noether? and (2) why isn‚Äôt her theorem well known to lovers of science? [Available on DVD in the SSU library.]