Steve Strogatz, very well known for his work on Network Theory,
will be giving a public lecture on "The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order" in College of Computing 16 Wednesday 9/29 at 4pm. This will be followed by
a Q & A session and a book signing.
Abstract: What caused hundreds of Japanese children to fall into seizures while watching an episode of the cartoon show Pokemon? Why do women roommates sometimes find that their menstrual periods occur in sync?
The tendency to synchronize is one of the most mysterious and pervasive drives in all of nature. Every night along the tidal rivers of Malaysia, thousands of fireflies flash in silent, hypnotic unison; the moon spins in perfect resonance with its orbit around the Earth; the intense coherence of a laser comes from trillions of atoms pulsing together. All these astonishing feats of synchrony occur spontaneously -- almost as if the universe had an overwhelming desire for order.
On the surface, these phenomena might seem unrelated. After all, the forces that synchronize fireflies have nothing to do with those in a laser. But at a deeper level, they are all connected by the same mathematical theme: self-organization, the spontaneous emergence of order out of chaos.
Professor Strogatz is a wonderful speaker. All math majors are encouraged to show up for Wednesday's talk, which will be geared
towards non-experts, so any GT student will gain a lot by attending it. (There will also be a more technical lecture Thursday 9/30 at 11am
in DM Smith 207.)