Hutton Honors College

Sir Roger Penrose is a renowned mathematical physicist, as well as a "recreational mathematician" and philosopher, whose writings include The EMPEROR'S NEW MIND: On Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics; SHADOWS OF THE MIND: A Search for the Missing Science of Consciousness; The NATURE OF SPACE AND TIME (with Stephen Hawking); The LARGE, the SMALL, and the HUMAN MIND; and (most recently) ROAD TO REALITY: A COMPLETE GUIDE to the LAWS of the UNIVERSE. He created (with his father) the Penrose stair case and the impossible triangle known as the tribar that were used in such intriguing ways by Dutch artist M.C. Escher.

RSVP: If you would like to attend this lunch, please contact Eriko Atagi by e-mail and include your name, e-mail address, phone number, major(s), and year in school. You may also call 812/855-5296 and state all of the above information (please make sure to clearly spell out your e-mail address). Space is limited so we will let you know by e-mail if a space was available when you replied. The lunch is co-sponsored by the Wells Scholars Program.

Sir Roger Penrose has made contributions to general relativity theory, to the foundations of quantum theory, to cosmology (in relation to the geometrical nature of the big bang), to a theory of the relationship between physics and human consciousness, and many other areas. He originated twistor theory, "a proposal for uniting quantum ideas with space-time structure," and spin-network theory. He is also known for his passion for "recreational mathematics" and for Penrose tiles. He and his father created the Penrose staircase and the impossible triangle known as the tribar, both of which were used by Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher "to create structures such as a waterfall where the water appears to flow uphill and a building with an impossible staircase which rises or falls endlessly yet returns to the same level."^[1]

His many awards include the Wolff Prize (with Stephen Hawking), the Dirac Medal, and the Einstein Medal; 14 honorary degrees; and a knighthood for his service to science.

Sir Roger Penrose will be on campus to deliver the Konopinski Lecture for the IU Department of Physics on the topic "Before the Big Bang: Addressing Some Deep Mysteries of Cosmology?" The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be Tuesday, April 29, 7:30 p.m., in Whittenberger Auditorium. A preview of his lecture says that he "will present a 'radical new idea,' providing an outlandish (and surprising) proposal for what went on 'before the Big Bang,' and which, if actually true, would go a long way to explaining one of the supreme puzzles of cosmology, dealing with the origin of the Second Law of Thermodynamics."

He is the Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at Oxford; the Francis and Helen Pentz Distinguished Professor of Physics and Mathematics (visiting) at Penn State University; and a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary, University of London.

For more information, see
http://plus.maths.org/issue18/features/penrose/index.html;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penrose_tiling;
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/symmetry/penrose.htm;
http://www.isepp.org/Pages/05-06%20Pages/Penrose.html;
http://www.abc.net.au/quantum/stories/s108094.htm.

[1] http://www.worldofescher.com/misc/penrose.html

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