Nobel prize winner to deliver Charles Barkla lecture

The Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist, Professor Gerardus ‘t Hooft, will deliver the annual Barkla Lecture this week at the University of Liverpool.

He will discuss the ways in which science and technology continues to change living conditions and social relationships and will also examine how future discoveries, in areas ranging from space exploration to the study of tiny elementary particles, will affect our understanding of the Laws of Nature.

Professor ‘t Hooft, from the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, received the 1999 Nobel Prize in Physics for revealing the quantum structure of electroweak interactions – a mathematical construction which describes two of the four fundamental interactions in nature. The results of his work have impacted on many areas of study including the design of particle accelerators and experiments based at CERN – the European Centre for Particle Physics Research – in Switzerland.

Professor Alon Faraggi, from the University of Liverpool’s Department of Mathematical Sciences, said “The Charles Barkla lectures are renowned for highlighting new research in the fields of electromagnetic, gravitational and nuclear force, and enable us to look forward to future possibilities and discoveries. We are delighted that Professor ‘t Hooft will visit the University to share his work.”

The lectures are held in honour of Professor Charles Barkla, a graduate of, and lecturer at, the University. He received the 1917 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work into the electromagnetic properties of X-rays, discovering that X-radiation could be regarded as similar to ordinary light. He was awarded the Royal Society’s Hughes Medal the same year.

The lecture, organised by the University’s Departments of Mathematical Sciences and Physics will take place at the Medical Institute, Mount Pleasant, at 2pm, on Friday 13 February.

Notes to editors:

1.  The University of Liverpool is a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive institutions in the UK. It attracts collaborative and contract research commissions from a wide range of national and international organisations valued at more than £93 million annually.

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