About time and space – is everything relative? – Alexander Moewes
Have you ever asked yourself which physics properties are absolute, and which are relative? How about time, length, mass or speed of light?
In 1999, Time magazine selected physicist Albert Einstein as the person of the millennium. His powerful theory of special relativity touches on these questions and are based on a very simple yet surprising basic assumption – the speed of light is a constant.
In my talk I will touch on these parameters and explain some of the surprising implications from this theory.
Alexander Moewes was educated in Hamburg, Germany. After furthering his experimental skills at various synchrotrons in the US, he joined the physics department of U of S in 2000 where he is a physics professor and Canada Research Chair. For his research, he uses the Canadian Light Source to study new materials. Alex has a knack for fundamental physics questions – especially when at first glance they seem to contradict common sense.