After Hours Conversations 2007-2008
February - March 2008
We are happy to announce a new installment of our program of interdisciplinary conversations. Instead of holding lunch meetings, we are now exploring an after-hours alternative. As before, these conversations will be led by Caroline Bynum and Piet Hut.
The after-hours meetings will be held in Harry's Bar, from 5:15 pm till 7:00 pm, three days a week, on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.
At 5:30 pm, someone will give an informal presentation of no more than 10 minutes, intended for a general audience. The topic will be a brief description of a major open problem in his or her field, together with suggestions for possible future progress with respect to that problem. This talk will be followed by 15 minutes of discussion, until 6:00 pm. During the remaining hour, everyone is free to mingle in more general discussions, preferably with others not from their own School.
Note that in Harry's bar all beverages including bottled water must be purchased with an IAS card.
Here is the list of speakers for the 10-minute presentations:
First Semester
Monday, February 4, 2008
Presentation by Richard Abels, School of Historical Studies:
Cultural Responses to Massacres: the Cases of My Lai and Beziérs
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Presentation by Nima Arkani-Hamed, School of Natural Sciences:
Fundamental Physics and the Large Hadron Collider
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Presentation by Barbara Kowalzig, School of Historical Studies:
Trading Gods: Spirituality and Materialism in Ancient Religions
Monday, February 11, 2008
Presentation by Jonathan Hyslop, School of Social Science:
Writing History in Democratising Societies: The Past in Contemporary South Africa
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Presentation by Siobhan Roberts, Director's Visitor:
The Analogical Scientist: exploring how the use of analogy and metaphor are not only a linguistic embellishment facilitating communication, but also a tool prodding investigation and discovery.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Presentation by Alexia Schulz, School of Natural Sciences:
Parallels in Cosmology and Economics
Monday, February 18, 2008
President's day holiday; no presentation
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Presentation by Raul Rabadan, School of Natural Sciences:
Evolution of the Influenza Virus
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Presentation by Mario Juric, School of Natural Sciences:
Society of Eccentrics: A Tale about Planets Outside of the Solar System
Monday, February 25, 2008
Presentation by Danielle Allen, School of Social Science:
Ideas in Action: Reflections on How Concepts Migrate from Philosophy to Politics
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Presentation by Aditayh Behl, School of Historical Studies:
A Map and a Castle: Narrative Technique and Form in the Hindavi Sufi Romances
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Presentation by Paul Forman, Program in Interdisciplinary Studies:
What in Contemporary Culture Accounts for the Loss of Trust in Science?
Monday, March 3, 2008
Presentation by William Goldman, School of Mathematics:
Equilateral Triangles: Visualizations of how space can be tiled by triangles in non-Euclidean geometry.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Presentation by Arnold Levine, School of Natural Sciences:
The Diversity in our Genes, The Good and the Bad: the story of a gene that protects us from making mistakes in reproduction, prevents cancer, aids in having more offspring, and impacts upon our longevity.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Presentation by Roy Laird, School of Historical Studies:
Galileo and Some Popes: Why, after almost 400 years, does the condemnation of Galileo still disturb the Catholic church?
Monday, March 10, 2008
Presentation by Peter Meyers, School of Historical Studies:
Rhetoric and Inquiry: A Model for "Interdisciplinarity"
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Presentation by Joseph Blasi, School of Historical Studies:
Utopias and Dystopias in American History
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Presentation by Avi Wigderson, School of Mathematics:
A Mathematical Result which may Spell Disaster
Monday, March 17, 2008
Presentation by Glen Bowersock, School of Historical Studies:
The Murder of Hypatia: Religious Terrorists in Late Antique Alexandria
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Presentation by Eric Maskin, School of Social Science:
Improving Presidential Elections
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Presentation by Paul Moravec, Artist-in-Residence:
My Life and Work as a Composer
Monday, March 24, 2008
Presentation by Freeman Dyson, School of Natural Sciences:
Domestication of biotechnology: what happens when genetic engineering kits become as cheap and ubiquitous as personal computers?
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Presentation by Ian Moyer, School of Historical Studies:
Misunderstandings: the cultural decipherment of the Rosetta stone and similar inscriptions
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Presentation by Prashanth Ak, School of Natural Sciences:
Sex, hormones and economists: what can they tell us about morality?