The LMH Astronomical Society will welcome LMH Alumnus and Sussex University’s Emeritus Professor of Physics Philip Harris back to College on Friday 12th May. Philip will speak on the “Symmetries of Nature: The Mystery of the Universe’s Missing Antimatter”.
About the speaker
Philip Harris is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Sussex. He joined LMH in 1979, as a member of LMH’s first male undergraduate cohort. He spent his career carrying out experiments in atomic and particle physics across Europe and the USA, and is known in particular for his contributions to the measurement of the electric dipole moment of the neutron - one of the most precise measurements that it is possible to make in physics.
About the talk
There is beauty in symmetry - and a deep and powerful connection between the symmetries of nature and the most fundamental laws of physics. During this talk we will explore some of these symmetries and their consequences for our existence, and will introduce an experiment that helps to address one of cosmology’s deepest mysteries: why does the Universe contain so much more matter than antimatter? Partly for fun, and partly in order to maintain an appropriate sense of proportion as we discuss these Big Ideas, we will be accompanied from time to time by a certain well-known (and highly symmetric) Bear of Little Brain.
