Inaugural Lecture Series Autumn-Winter 2014

The 2014-15 Faculty of Natural & Mathematical Sciences Inaugural Lecture series began on Tuesday 4th November 2014 with a lecture given by Professor Dario Martelli, from The Department of Mathematics, entitled ‘The universe as a hologram.' Professor Martelli explained why imagining the universe as a holographic projection of a three-dimensional space-time has radically changed the way we think about fundamental questions of theoretical physics, and prompted novel connections between different areas of mathematics. Mr. Chris Mottershead, Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation) gave a brief welcome before Professor Martelli presented the first NMS Inaugural Lecture of the 2014-15 academic year.

Professor Simon Salamon, Professor Dario Martelli & Professor Michael Luck

The second Inaugural Lecture of the term was given by Professor Mark van Schilfgaarde, from the Department of Physics on Wednesday 5 November 2014. In his lecture, ‘How do we explain why materials behave as they do?’ Professor van Schilfgaarde posed some interesting questions, such as what gives gold, or precious gems like rubies, amethyst, quartz and citrine their colour? Why are some materials magnetic, and others not? Photo-voltaics are special materials that directly convert sunlight to electricity. How do they work? Professor van Schilfgaarde explained some essential features of photovoltaic cells, and discussed how understanding electronic structure can assist some recent developments in this fast-changing field.

Mr Chris Mottershead, Professor Mark van Schilfgaarde, Professor David Richards & Professor Michael Luck

On Thursday 13 November, Professor Luca Viganò, from the Department of Informatics presented his Inaugural Lecture, entitled ‘Is security really mortals’ chiefest enemy?’ After being introduced by Professor Evelyn Welch, Vice-Principal (Arts & Sciences), Professor Viganò highlighted that the design of protocols and services for Internet security is highly error-prone and that conventional validation techniques based on informal arguments or testing are not up to the task. Professor Viganò went on to survey the formal methodologies and technologies for information security that he has developed with several collaborators, and suggested some interesting directions for the future.

Professor Evelyn Welch, Professor Luca Viganò, Professor Peter McBurney & Professor Michael Luck

The following evening, Professor John Ellis, department of Physics, gave his Inaugural Lecture ‘From little bangs to the big bang.’ Professor Evelyn Welch welcomed Professor Ellis to give his lecture and highlighted his research interests, which include particle physics and related areas of high-energy astrophysics and cosmology.  Professor Ellis’ lecture focused in part on the Higgs discovery, which may help us understand why the Universe is so large and old, and what may happen to the Universe in the future. He also touched on other particle experiments that may help us understand the origin of the matter in the Universe and the nature of dark matter.

Professor Evelyn Welch, Professor John Ellis, Professor David Richards & Professor Michael Luck

The fifth Inaugural Lecture this term was given by Professor Anatoly Zayats, department of Physics, and was entitled ‘Light reflections: The physics of stained glass.’ In her introduction, Professor Evelyn Welch highlighted Professor Zayats’ contributions to NMS and beyond. Professor Zayats discussed the components of stained glass and identified that the same effects that give colour to stained glass can be used to identify and cure cancer, detect explosives, build faster and less energy-hungry computers and better solar cells. In this lecture, Professor Zayats discussed the past achievements which have enabled this field of nanophotonics and gave his predictions for future developments.

Professor Evelyn Welch, Professor Anatoly Zayats & Professor Michael Luck

The final lecture of the term was given by Professor Nicholas Shepherd-Barron, from the Department of Mathematics. His lecture was entitled ‘Curves, abelian varieties and their moduli spaces’. The lecture focused on spaces created by Riemann in about 1850, in one of his papers that changed mathematics and have been at the centre of algebraic geometry ever since. The lecture detailed the advantages in Riemann's approach to the moduli spaces of curves and abelian varieties.

Professor Simon Salamon, Professor Michael Luck. Professor Nicholas Shepherd-Barron & Mr Chris Mottershead

An engaging Q&A session and further discussion followed presentations, as well as an informal drinks reception, which provided an opportunity for guests to discuss the talks further and network among colleagues from King’s and other institutions.

The NMS Inaugural Lecture Series will continue in 2015. Details will be listed on the Inaugurals pages soon,

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/nms/inaugurals.aspx