TEDxAmsterdam: Robbert Dijkgraaf from TEDxAmsterdam on Vimeo.
We are in the middle of a golden era of exploration. Particle physicists are probing the smallest distances; cosmologists are looking at the very end of the universe. All are looking for answers to fundamental questions. What is matter made of? Are there extra dimensions? What is the nature of space and time? What can we learn from our past and future?
Robbert Dijkgraaf (1960) is Distinguished University Professor of Mathematical Physics at the University of Amsterdam. From 1 May 2008 he is President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). In his TEDxAmsterdam talk, he showed us how we now know how much we do not know.
Dijkgraaf studied theoretical physics and mathematics in Utrecht, where (after an interlude studying painting at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie) he obtained his Ph.D. cum laude under supervision of Nobel Prize winner Gerard ‘t Hooft in 1989. Subsequently he held positions at Princeton University and the Institute for Advanced Study. He is a member of a research group that works in string theory, quantum gravity, and the interface of mathematics and particle physics. He was the recipient of the 2001 Physica Prize of the Dutch Physical Society and the 2003 NWO Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific award in the Netherlands.
Links and reports
“Professor Robbert Dijkgraaf, President of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, told us precisely how little we know about the universe and compared our cosmology with the old explorer maps of the world, complete with “there be monsters” illustrations in the form of dark matter – an impressive term for something that is really just a great unknown. But we should make the most of this opportunity to learn, since we’re still relatively at the centre of things: as the universe expands, the future will be very dark, lonely, and dull.” WIRED UK, Darwinian Architecture and Slumdog Design
“Alles wat wij zien als lege ruimte, bestaat eigenlijk uit heel veel processen die zich uitbreiden,’ aldus Dijkgraaf. ‘Het universum is vergelijkbaar met een auto waar iemand het gaspedaal intrapt; de auto accelereert, het universum expandeert en wordt steeds groter.”, Foliaweb: Dijkgraaf op TEDx
And as a bonus, The Sanoma video interview by Ronnie Overgoor with Robbert Dijkgraaf
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