Author of “The Elegant Universe,” to speak July 10

July 3, 2000
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ANN ARBOR—Brian Greene, author of “The Elegant Universe”—the recent best-selling book on string theory—will give a free, public lecture, “Space and Time Since Einstein,” at 8 p.m.

A professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, Greene excels at the difficult task of explaining the mysteries of string theory in plain English for a lay audience. Greene is one of 300 of the world’s most prominent physicists who will attend “Strings 2000,” a major international physics conference being held on the U-M campus July 10-15.

String or M-theory is an exciting new development in theoretical physics, which attempts to explain both Einstein’s theory of relativity and the behavior of tiny components inside atoms. Physicists have a major problem: the basic principles underlying their two most important theories—relativity and quantum mechanics—are incompatible. Physicists hope string theory will resolve these differences and provide one all-encompassing explanation for everything in the universe from gravity to time.

To commemorate the new millenium and inspire future physicists, conference participants also will participate in “Millennial Madness”—a competition to compile the 23 most important unsolved problems in fundamental physics. In 1900, world-renowned mathematician David Hilbert presented 23 problems at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Paris, which have inspired mathematicians throughout the century.