The Fabric of Reality April 19, 2010

Emmy Noether made perhaps the most significant discovery of the 20th century. Noether's Theorem ties the laws of nature - from Newton's laws to thermodynamics to charge conservation - directly to the geometry of space and time, the very fabric of reality. It is the basis for the standard model of particle physics, quantum electrodynamics, and grand unified theories including supersymmetry and superstrings. As usual in physics, it gets really interesting when the theorem is violated: answers to the origin of mass and the matter-antimatter asymmetry problems emerge when Noether's theorem is violated. Two things should bother you about Noether's Theorem: (1) how come so few people have heard of Emmy Noether? and (2) why isn't her theorem well known to lovers of science? With the help of a bunch of straw, Ransom Stephens will solve these problems.

About Ransom Stephens:
Ransom Stephens, Ph.D., is a professor of particle physics turned writer and speaker. He has worked on experiments at SLAC, Fermilab, CERN, and Cornell; discovered a new type of matter formed by the fusion of two photons, made the most precise measurements of rare bottom quark decays in the world, and was on the team that discovered the top quark. His new novel, The God Patent is set in the battle between science and religion over the nature of the soul and the origin of the universe. It features a character based on the turn of the century mathematician, Emmy Noether.

Official Website: http://www.sciencecafesf.com