2005 Buhl Lecture

Thursday, April 21, 2005

4:00 pm   Public Lecture in Mellon Institute Auditorium
5:00 pm   Reception in Mellon Institute Lobby

Speaker
Hitoshi Murayama
Professor of Physics
University of California, Berkeley

Abstract
This famous equation, part of the theory of relativity set forth by Einstein in April 1905, changed our understanding of nature at the most fundamental level. "c" is the speed of light. It is the ultimate speed in the universe; nothing can go faster. "m" stands for mass. For centuries after Newton it was believed that mass is absolute. But this equation of Einstein revealed that mass is yet another form of energy, "E", that can change to other forms -- kinetic, gravitational, chemical, thermal, nuclear -- and back again to mass. An electron and an anti-electron annihilate into pure energy; in turn, energy can create matter and anti-matter. The fascinating story of energy and mass is still evolving a century since Einstein as we understand more of where they come from, how they shape the universe, and the missing pieces of the universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

About Hitoshi Murayama
Hitoshi Murayama is the MacAdams Professor of Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has spent the last academic year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He received the Yukawa Commemoration Prize in Theoretical Physics in 2002. His theoretical work has spanned a broad range of topics at the forefront of particle physics. These include the properties of neutrinos, which may help explain the abundance of matter and dearth of anti-matter in our universe, and Dark Energy and its relationship to theories that give rise to mass for elementary particles. Murayama serves on the Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee and has been deeply involved in defining the future program of particle physics research in the United States.

Sponsored by the Carnegie Mellon Department of Physics. For more information, please contact 412-268-6681. This lecture is funded under the auspices of the Buhl Professorship in Theoretical Physics, which was established at Carnegie Mellon in 1961 by the Buhl Foundation in support of an outstanding theoretical scientist who would both impact theoretical research and help establish directions for experimental