Purdue Convocations SuperStrings Concert
The links between physics and music are both deep and long-standing. Many of the world's most famous physicists have been gifted musicians; Einstein was an enthusiastic and accomplished chamber musician. He and his violin were inseparable, therefore making it particularly appropriate, in Einstein year, to commemorate his scientific achievements and their impact on our current theory of the Universe through the medium of his beloved violin.
The ideas of Superstrings, which many believe to be the basis for a grand synthesis of all four forces of nature, have a plethora of connections with the physics of the violin. Such connections and illustrations will be exploited in the performance to illustrate the development of the ideas of the quantum and wave functions that Einstein did so much to establish and critically question.
The program, using the platform of the World Year of Physics (WYP 2005) to convey the current status of particle physics and cosmology, will incorporate a lecture by Brian Foster and a show of images and text explaining Einstein's life and career (including his interest in the violin), and images of the universe to illustrate his work. The sequence will be accompanied by Jack Liebeck playing parts of the Bach Solo Sonatas and Partitas, which are some of Einstein's favorite pieces.
Brian Foster has decades of experience of lecturing to schools and popular audiences. He will come to us from Oxford. Jack Liebeck is one of the fastest rising stars of British violin playing. He recently graduated from the Royal Academy of Music.
There will be a concert on the evening of November 10, open to the general public. Tickets will cost $11. A special program for school students will be offered on Friday, November 11, starting at 9:30 a.m. The cost for students will be $1 each.
