Jim Baggott

Quantum mechanics is an extraordinarily successful scientific theory, on which much of our modern, tech-obsessed lifestyles depend, from smartphones to streaming to satellites. It is also completely bonkers. Although quantum mechanics quite obviously works, it leaves us chasing ghosts and phantoms, particles that are waves and waves that are particles, cats that are at once both alive and dead, lots of seemingly ‘spooky’ goings-on, and a desperate desire to lie down quietly in a darkened room.

In the 1920s and 30s, Albert Einstein debated the nature of quantum reality with Danish physicist Niels Bohr. This was, quite simply, the most thrilling debate in the entire history of science, and it remains completely unresolved. Today, scientists are confronted with a rather desperate choice. Do they accept that we’ve reached a fundamental limit in our ability to comprehend reality? Do they just ‘shut up and calculate’? Or do they indulge their inner metaphysician, and speculate about how reality might be in an attempt to explain how quantum mechanics actually does what it does. This is not without its dangers, as speculation unconstrained by evidence can serve to undermine the very foundations of science itself. In this talk, science writer Jim Baggott will explain why quantum mechanics poses such serious problems for our understanding of reality, and what some modern scientists are trying to do about that. There will be no hard sums.

Jim Baggott is a former academic scientist turned award-winning science writer and author of books such as The Quantum Story, Origins, Mass, and Quantum Space, which will be published in November. He has been writing about quantum mechanics (among other things) for more than 25 years. He still hasn’t figured it all out yet, but he has discovered that talking about quantum mechanics is a useful kind of therapy. Please help him by coming along to listen and by asking him difficult questions.

Doors: 7pm / Talk starts: 7.30pm

We are surrounded by ‘stuff’, from planets, to books, to our own bodies. Whatever it is, it is solid; it has mass, and we call it matter. Yet science has shown that the foundations of our universe are not solid or dependable. They are instead built from ghosts and phantoms, of a peculiar quantum kind. Drawing on his new book Mass, award-winning science writer Jim Baggott questions our understanding of matter, its origins, and the implications for our understanding of the material world.

Everything around us is made of ‘stuff’, or matter. But what is it, exactly? Jim Baggott will explore our changing understanding of the nature of matter, from the ancient Greeks to the development of quantum field theory and the discovery of the Higgs boson.

Jim Baggott is an award-winning science writer. He trained as a scientist, completing a doctorate in chemical physics at the University of Oxford in the early 80s, before embarking on post-doctoral research studies at Oxford and at Stanford University in California.

Jim’s new book, Mass, will be available for purchase and signing after the talk.

As the great Niels Bohr famously remarked “Anyone who is not shocked by Quantum Theory has not understood it”. Even today approximately a century after the extended formulation of Quantum Theory, its foundations continue to puzzle and perplex us. The spooky action at a distance of quantum entanglement eludes rational explanation. A quantum cat can be both dead and alive. The reconciliation of the theory with that of gravity remains unsolved. Yet despite these theoretical issues, quantum theory has provided scores of spectacularly accurate measurements and has led to a host of everyday devices used all over the world. This conference will explore the origins, achievements and technological developments from this all pervasive theory.

We are surrounded by ‘stuff’, from planets, to books, to our own bodies. Whatever it is, it is solid; it has mass, and we call it matter. Yet science has shown that the foundations of our universe are not solid or dependable. They are instead built from ghosts and phantoms, of a peculiar quantum kind. Drawing on his new book Mass, award-winning science writer Jim Baggott questions our understanding of matter, its origins, and the implications for our understanding of the material world.

The complete history of the universe, from the big bang to the beginnings of human consciousness. Prepare yourself for a whistlestop tour of the history of everything, with approximately one billion years covered every minute. For years, people have been telling stories about where we came from – this is an attempt to cover everything we know so far.

In one hour flat, Jim Baggott tells the story of our universe, from the Big Bang to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Physics, cosmology and biology all combine in his unique fast-paced exposition of current scientific knowledge. This is the story of the origins of everything: space, time, energy, mass, light; galaxies, stars, our Sun, our Earth, complex life, ourselves. Myths and religions all have their accounts of how we came to be. Jim Baggott tells ‘the scientific story of creation’.

The hunt for the Higgs particle has involved the biggest, most expensive experiment ever. So exactly what is this particle? Why does it matter so much? What does it tell us about the Universe? Did the discovery announced on 4 July 2012 finish the search? And was finding it really worth all the effort? Popular science author Jim Baggott explains the science behind the discovery, looking at how the concept of a Higgs field was invented, how the vast experiment was carried out, and its implications on our understanding of all mass in the Universe.

Libraria Humanitas Kretzulescu Bookstore, Bucharest

There are many different versions of our creation story. Baggott tells the version according to modern science. Using a cross-disciplinary approach, he starts with the Big Bang and travels right up to the emergence of humans as conscious intelligent beings, 13.8 billion years later. Chaired by Dan Davis.

Event 332 • Thursday 2 June 2016, 5.30pm • Venue: Good Energy Stage

Space remains as our greatest frontier and, as we venture forth, we continue to ask some of the most basic questions: What is the origin of our universe and what is the origin of life? Many scientific disciplines are contributing to better answering these fundamental queries. A sound understanding of our origins will prepare us for the next significant point in our future should we find definitive evidence of life beyond Earth.

Jim is guest speaker at the University of New Haven’s Space Day Symposium on Saturday, 2 April.

Jim is speaking at the Whiston Society, Clare College Cambridge on the subject of the Higgs boson and what it means for our understanding of the nature of matter.

There are many different versions of the creation story. Join Jim Baggott, scientist and author of ground-breaking new book Origins, as he tells the amazing scientific story of the Universe: from the Big Bang to the arrival of humans 13.8 billion years later. Along the way he’ll explore the origins of space and time, atoms and chemical complexity and the formation of Earth – and with it the rise of complex life, like us! Was the Universe designed with us in mind or are we just an evolutionary accident?

A book signing and drinks reception will follow the event.

Jim Baggott studied physical chemistry at Oxford University and has been writing about science, philosophy and science history for nearly 20 years. He has won awards for both scientific research and science writing. Some of his recent books include, Higgs: The Invention and Discovery of the ‘God Particle’ and A Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments.

Venue:

Mathematical Institute
University of Oxford
Andrew Wiles Building, Woodstock Road
OX2 6GG Oxford
United Kingdom

Jim has been invited to speak at the next James Randi Education Foundation meeting – The Amazing Meeting – in Las Vegas, 16-19 July 2015.

He will be presenting a 30-minute session titled ‘Crossing the Line: The Challenge of ‘Post-empirical Science” at 10:00 am on Friday 17 July. He will also be joining Taner Edis (Professor of Physics at Truman State University), noted American sceptic Jim Lippard and Massimo Pigliucci (Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York) in a panel discussion on ‘How Should Philosophy of Science Inform Rational Skepticism?’, at 4:00 pm on Sunday 19 July.

Full details of the conference schedule are now available from the TAM website here.

The hunt for the Higgs particle has involved the biggest, most expensive experiment ever. So exactly what is this particle? Why does it matter so much? What does it tell us about the Universe? Did the discovery announced on 4 July 2012 finish the search? And was finding it really worth all the effort? Popular science author Jim Baggott explains the science behind the discovery, looking at how the concept of a Higgs field was invented, how the vast experiment was carried out, and its implications on our understanding of all mass in the Universe.

What is the difference between evidence, fact, and proof? Can we quantify evidence; is something more evident than something else? What does it take to convince a scientist, a scientific community, and the general public of the correctness of a scientific result in the era of very complicated experiments, big data, and weak signals? This symposium, co-hosted by the Simons Foundation and John Templeton Foundation and in collaboration with the World Science Festival, addressed these and related questions, during a scientific program suited for established researchers, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students working in the natural sciences and allied fields, and during an evening program aimed at the above scientists in addition to the well-informed general public.

The hunt for the Higgs particle has involved the biggest, most expensive experiment ever. So exactly what is this particle? Why does it matter so much? What does it tell us about the Universe? Did the discovery announced on 4 July 2012 finish the search? And was finding it really worth all the effort? Popular science author Jim Baggott explains the science behind the discovery, looking at how the concept of a Higgs field was invented, how the vast experiment was carried out, and its implications on our understanding of all mass in the Universe.

On 8 October 2013, Peter Higgs and Francois Englert were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work on the ‘mechanism that contributes to our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles’. Just 6 days later Jim Baggott explained the significance of this work and of the recent discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in July 2012 to an audience gathered for the Pi-symposium, organised by Fri Tanke (the Swedish publisher of Higgs) at the Hotel Rival in Stockholm.