Nov. 29 visit by theoretical physicist Lisa Randall is final keynote presentation in 2006 Syracuse Symposium

Nov. 29 visit by theoretical physicist Lisa Randall is final keynote presentation in 2006 Syracuse SymposiumNovember 16, 2006Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Noted Harvard University physicist and cosmologist Lisa Randall will be the final speaker in this year’s Syracuse Symposium, “Imagination,” presented by Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences, on Wednesday, Nov. 29.

Randall’s presentation will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Gifford Auditorium, located in Huntington Beard Crouse Hall, and is free and open to the public. Parking is available in Irving Garage.

Randall is one of the leading theorists trying to resolve what is perhaps the deepest problem in physics, which is that two of its most successful theories — quantum mechanics (for elementary particles) and the general theory of relativity (for gravity) — are apparently incompatible. She explains the quest to find a solution in her recent book, “Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions” (Ecco, 2005), which was included in The New York Times’ 100 notable books of 2005. In her lecture, Randall will speak about her celebrated work on this most intractable problem.

Randall earned her Ph.D at Harvard University and held professorships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton University before returning to Harvard in 2001. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a fellow of the American Physical Society and a past winner of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award, a DOE Outstanding Junior Investigator Award and the Westinghouse Science Talent Search. She was featured in Seed Magazine’s “2005 Year in Science Icons ” and in Newsweek’s “Who’s Next in 2006.”

Co-sponsors for the event are the Department of Physics, the Renee Crown University Honors Program, the Department of Science Teaching and the Women in Science and Engineering Program.

The symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival that celebrates interdisciplinary thinking, imagination and creation. This year’s theme is “Imagination.” For more information on symposium events and exhibitions, visit http://symposium.syr.edu.