Physicist Leo Kadanoff
MEADVILLE, Pa. – Oct. 20, 2009 – Theoretical physicist Leo Kadanoff will present “Making a Splash, Breaking a Neck – The Making of Complexity in Physical Systems” on Thursday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. in the Quigley Hall auditorium on the Allegheny College campus. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Barbara Lotze Endowed Lectureship series at Allegheny.
Kadanoff’s talk will examine the development of complexity in fluid flow. Examples include splashing water, swirls in heated gases, and jets thrown up from beds of sand. Kadanoff contends that, in observing and understanding these occurrences, individuals begin to address broader issues: predictability and chaos, mechanisms for the generation of complexity and of simple laws and, finally, the question of whether there is a natural tendency toward the formation of complex “machines.”
Kadanoff is professor emeritus of physics and mathematics at the University of Chicago. He has contributed widely to research in the properties of matter, the development of urban areas, statistical models of physical systems, and the development of chaos in simple mechanical and fluid systems.
In 1999 Kadanoff was awarded the National Medal of Science. In addition, he has received the Quantrell Award for excellence in teaching from the University of Chicago, the Centennial Medal of Harvard University, and the Onsager Prize of the American Physical Society. He also has served as president of the American Physical Society.
For more information about Kadanoff’s presentation, contact the Allegheny College Department of Physics at (814) 332-5365.
