Spring break was no deterrent to the crowd of people who came to hear physicist Kip Thorne speak at the University on March 24. Thorne, the Feynman Professor of
Theoretical Physics at the California Institute of Technology, gave a lecture titled “Einstein’s Legacy in the Modern World: From Black Holes to Quantum Cryptography.”
The United Nations declared 2005 the World Year of Physics, honoring the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s “miracle year” in which he published five papers including one that introduced the theory of relativity.
“We are still exploring Einstein’s legacy and will continue to do so for at least another century,” Thorne said.
Thorne described two main revolutions in physics to which Einstein contributed: relativity and quantum mechanics. Scientific developments are still being made in both areas.
“Einstein was ahead of his time by amounts of time ranging from a few years to more commonly 50 years to sometimes 150 years,” Thorne said.
In the 200 years prior to Einstein publishing his paper on relativity, Isaac Newton’s theories of space, time, forces and accelerations derived from everyday experience provided the framework for understanding the laws of nature.
“Einstein’s framework has a much wider range of validity,” Thorne said, explaining that in Einstein’s framework, the laws of nature are the same in all frames of reference including situations in which time and space are warped.
Later scientists used Einstein’s theory of relativity to predict the existence of black holes, which are made from the warping of space and time. In coming decades, Thorne said scientists plan to probe black holes by using a form of radiation made from the same material as black holes — gravitational waves, which Einstein predicted in 1916.
Thorne also explained the role of quantum mechanics, which describes intrinsic uncertainties in the physical qualities of particles such as position, speed and energy.
Thorne said quantum mechanics is a framework for the laws of nature just like relativity, although it is not yet understood how quantum mechanics and relativity fit together.
Thorne said future developments may include quantum computing, quantum cryptography and quantum communication.
“All of this great power arises because of the weirdness of quantum logic,” Thorne said.
The lecture, originally scheduled to take place in 100 Willamette, had to be relocated to 150 Columbia at the last minute to accommodate a large crowd.
University math professor Jim Isenberg, who organized the event, said he was surprised by the turnout.
“I thought we’d be lucky to get around 200,” he said. “We got around 500 … It was very, very pleasing.”
Junior physics major Anders Hansen said attending the event was a “no-brainer” for him because of his interest in physics.
“I thought it was very interesting,” he said. “I enjoyed it much.”
Anita Gimre of Forest Grove attended the event with her two children Karsten and Karensa. She said Thorne is distantly related to her children.
“We’ve never met him,” she said. “I thought we should meet him.”
“I thought it was very interesting,” Karensa Gimre said.
The University’s celebration of the World Year of Physics will continue with two more events spring term. On April 30 at 3 p.m., University physics instructor Stan Micklavzina will present a science circus at the South Eugene High School auditorium, 400 E. 19th Ave., as “Dr. Stan the Science Man.” A $5 donation for event sponsor Ridgeline Montessori School is suggested. On May 19 at
7 p.m., University physicist Jim Brau will speak in 100 Willamette about recent developments in cosmology and particle physics.

[email protected]