Martin Wood Complex, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Prof Steven Kivelson, Stanford University
Maud Schmitt
We are delighted to welcome Professor Steven Kivelson from the Standford Institute for Theoretical Physics as our guest speaker for the 61st Cherwell Simon Memorial Lecture.
The event is free but please register to attend.
In the public imagination, quantum mechanics evokes a sense of magical mystery and technologies of untrammeled power. Superheroes routinely exploit the “quantum realm” to travel through time or to enter the multiverse, and scientists suspected of leaking quantum technologies to unfriendly governments have been targeted for investigation. We can leave these fascinating topics to Hollywood screenwriters and civil rights lawyers. What is often overlooked is that unambiguously quantum phenomena are sometimes apparent on the macro-scale of human experience. This talk will explore two examples – ferromagnetism and superconductivity – and the ways in which they can be recognized as quantum phenomena. For the skeptical observer, we demonstrate magnetic levitation by ferromagnets and superconductors!