9.45am
Registration at Rewley House reception
10am
Newton's Laws
James Read
Newton's three laws of motion are familiar to any high school student worldwide. But when one begins to think about them, their content is, as Einstein put it, "a logician's nightmare". For example, Newton's first law of motion states that 'Force-free bodies travel with uniform velocities'. But what does it mean for a body to be 'force-free'? And uniform motion with respect to what? In this talk, James Read will present answers to these questions, uncovering thereby a diverse range of ways in which to understand the content of our most successful and ubiquitous scientific theory of all time.
11.15am
Tea/coffee break
11.45am
Origins of Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity
Clara Bradley
1pm
Lunch break
2pm
Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics
James Read
Perhaps the fundamental innovation of quantum mechanics is the idea that physical systems can be in so-called superposition states. For example, while in classical physics a switch can be either 'on' or 'off', in quantum mechanics the switch can (e.g.) be in a superposition of 'on' and 'off'. Left unchecked, quantum mechanics also permits macroscopic physical systems to be in superposition states—so, e.g., Schrödinger's famous cat can be in a superposition of 'alive' and 'dead'. But we never see such things! So what has gone wrong? In this talk, James Read will introduce a range of different ways of addressing this question—so-called 'interpretations' of quantum mechanics. We'll see that, any way one cuts the quantum pie, significant weirdness ensures.
3.15pm
Tea/coffee break
3.45pm
Plenary Session
Clara Bradley and James Read, chaired by Stephen Law
5pm
End of day
