 
TRDDC
Distinguished Lecture |
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To commemorate the International year of Physics, the Fifth TRDDC Distinguished Lecture was presented on 10 June 2005 by the world famous astrophysicist Professor Jayant Narlikar on 'Revolutions in Physics'. In this talk, Professor Narlikar discussed the important revolutions in our physical perception of the universe and talked about Einstein's impact on physics against the historical background. In one single year of 1905, working as a third-class patent clerk in a Swiss patent office, Albert Einstein published three monumental papers on the photoelectric effect, the special theory of relativity and Brownian motion, and thus changed our perception of the universe. As the year 1905 was Einstein's Annus Mirablis, its centenary in 2005 was celebrated worldwide as the International Year of Physics. Professor Narlikar took us on a lucid and engaging journey through the revolutions in the field of physics. In one hour he enlightened the audience about time, space, light and the universe. The laws of physics have changed for humans from the times of Aristotle when theories were largely couched in philosophical terms, to today in the world of relativity, when each and every theory needs to be verified by systematic experimental testing. Einstein held on to one basic truth of the universe: that the laws of physics should be the same whether we happen to be sitting on the earth or moving through space at a high speed. Thus, uniformity of Maxwell's equations led him to incorporate light's constant speed into physics. |
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Professor Mathai Joseph, Head, Global R&D at TCS and Executive Director, TRDDC, thanked Professor Jayant Narlikar on this occasion for his enlightening talk. |
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