At this very moment, there may be an infinite number of 鈥測ou鈥檚鈥� in an infinite number of universes doing every conceivable thing all of you could ever possibly do.
That鈥檚 the kind of thing Brian Greene ponders not only in his day job as a scientist, but also as the foremost translator of the 鈥渨onderfully weird鈥� concepts of theoretical physics for millions of curious non-scientists.
Take, for example, all those versions of you. Scientists aren鈥檛 yet sure whether the universe is infinitely large 鈥� though it鈥檚 a viable possibility, Greene says 鈥� but if it is, and matter is finite, then multiple 鈥渦niverses鈥� are inevitable. Greene uses a deck of playing cards to explain.
鈥淚f you shuffle, there are only so many orderings that can occur,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you shuffle enough times, the orders must repeat. So in an infinite universe with only a finite number of configurations of matter, the way in which matter arranges itself has to repeat.鈥�
Greene will take his audience on a tour of the mind-bending science behind parallel universes 鈥� there currently are nine theories of how and why they might exist 鈥� when he gives the 48thGeorge Gamow Memorial Lecture on Feb. 26 at Macky Auditorium. The lecture is named for the late theoretical physicist and early proponent of the big-bang theory who spent much of his career at the 麻豆影院.
But don鈥檛 worry; you won鈥檛 need the brilliant science mind of one of your infinite doppelgangers to understand Greene鈥檚 talk, titled 鈥淭he Hidden Reality: From Unification to Multiverse.鈥� He presumes no physics background and will use professional animations to help illustrate all those quirky or counterintuitive concepts.
鈥淚鈥檒l definitely give background for people who perhaps don鈥檛 have any familiarity with the subject,鈥� Greene says. 鈥淎nimation has a wonderful capacity to give a visual sense of ideas that otherwise might be completely impenetrable. It鈥檚 a key way that someone with no background can leave the talk with at least a rough sense of the amazing things modern physics has revealed.鈥�
听
IF YOU GO
WHAT:听48th听George Gamow Memorial Lecture
WHO:听Dr. Brian Greene, New York Times best-selling author, physicist and co-creator and host of the four-part NOVA special, 鈥淭he Fabric of the Cosmos鈥�
WHEN:听7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26
WHERE:听Macky Auditorium, 麻豆影院 campus
TICKETS:听Free and open to the public
INFO:听听or 303-492-6952