Faster than the Speed of Light - Was Einstein Wrong?
The next lecture in the UCC Public Lecture Series will be given by Dr Cormac O’Raifeartaigh, WIT, this Wednesday 14 March 2012 at 8pm in Boole 4.
The subject of the lecture is the recent report from Italy of the ‘discovery’ that tiny particles can move faster than the speed of light.
In September 2011, a team of scientists at Gran Sasso in Italy announced that they had observed tiny particles of matter travelling slightly faster than the speed of light in vacuum. The finding made headlines around the world as it appears to be in conflict with Einstein’s theory of relativity. So, was the experiment an anomaly, or was Einstein wrong? This lecture will describe the controversial experiment and consider the grounds for scepticism.
Cormac O’Raifeartaigh has a PhD in physics from Trinity College Dublin and lectures in physics and mathematics at Waterford Institute of Technology. He writes regularly on physics in newspapers and magazines and is the author of the well-known science blog ANTIMATTER. He is a science ambassador for Discover Science and Engineering, and has just returned from a position as Research Fellow with the Science, Technology and Society program at Harvard University.
The lecture will be delivered on Wednesday 14 March 2012 at 8pm in Boole IV Lecture Theatre. The lecture series is organised by Emeritus Professor William Reville, Public Awareness of Science Officer,CollegeofScience, Engineering and Food Science.
Full details of the lectures can be consulted by visiting the following website: http://understandingscience.ucc.ie/Lecture2012.pdf.
Admission is free and, as always, members of the public are invited to attend.