Leiden University
Colloquium Ehrenfestii »» 1912-2012 ««

The academic year 2012/2013 will be the 100th year of the series of physics colloquia started by Paul Ehrenfest in 1912 (read about its history). Renamed in his honor as Colloquia Ehrenfestii, we are fortunate that many preeminent physicists have agreed to honor Ehrenfest and the Leiden Physics tradition by speaking in this Centennial Series of the Colloquia Ehrenfestii and initiate its second century.

Organizer: Koenraad Schalm
100 years Colloquium Ehrenfestii

Meal reservation form (only accessible from leidenuniv.nl domain)

15 May

Eugene Stanley (Boston University; Lorentz Professor '13)

Novel Statistical Physics Approaches to Complex Systems

Abstract

Very recently truly gargantuan quantities of data have become available---the 'big data revolution in science'. The question of how to make sense of new data has served throughout the history of physics as a motivation for uncovering new principles. We address this question in general, and we also discuss specific examples from new work of theoretical physicists invading traditional fields like economics/finance and mathematical networks....fields traditionally the province of disciplines other than physics. We strive to follow the 'Ehrenfest rules', making each sentence clear to every person in the audience, and we dedicate this talk to Ehrenfest's memory.
This work was carried out in collaboration with a number of colleagues, including H. Wang (TU Delft), S. Havlin (Bar-Ilan U), S. V. Buldyrev (Yeshiva U), S. Moat & T. Preis (Warwick). and many very gifted Ph.D. students.


The Colloquium Ehrenfestii takes place Wednesday evenings starting at 19:30 hours in the main auditorium of the Oort building. Before the Colloquium, there is a common dinner in the canteen located on the ground floor of the Oort building. This dinner starts at 18:00 hours sharp and is free of charge, under the condition that one attends the colloquium and that one has made a reservation before noon on the Tuesday preceding the colloquium.

The registration form is only accessible from within the University (to block spammers); if you would like to register for the dinner from outside the University, please send an email to fran@lorentz.leidenuniv.nl

After 6 pm the revolving doors of the Oort building, approached by the long bridge alongside the Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, are locked and one should instead use the sliding doors directly adjacent to the Huygens building: these can be opened with an electronic key (seek help from locals).


Centennial Colloquium Ehrenfestii Series 2012/2013

02 Oct

Albert Fert (Paris; Nobel Laureate '07)

TBA

15 May

Eugene Stanley (Boston University; Lorentz Professor '13)

Novel Statistical Physics Approaches to Complex Systems

03 Apr

Francois Englert (Bruxelles)

The Brout-Englert-Higgs mechanism and its scalar boson

13 Mar

Anthony Leggett (Illinois; Nobel Laureate '03)

Testing the limits of quantum mechanics: motivation, state of play, prospects

27 Feb

Douglas Osheroff (Stanford; Nobel Laureate '96)

Superfluidity in 3He: The Story Behind the Discovery

06 Feb

Klaus von Klitzing (MPI Stuttgart; Nobel Laureate '85)

Physics and Applications of the Quantum Hall Effect

17 Oct

J. Maldacena (IAS Princeton)

Gauge theories, strings and gravity

Programs from previous years

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