Sir Roger Penrose, recipient of the 2020 Nobel prize in Physics, used ingenious mathematical methods to prove that black holes are a direct consequence of Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. In January 1965, ten years after Einstein’s death, Roger Penrose proved that black holes really can form and described them in detail; at their heart, black holes hide a singularity in which all the known laws of nature cease. His groundbreaking article is still regarded as the most important contribution to the general theory of relativity since Einstein.
October 16, 2020
Time:
11:00 am
Online
We are pleased to invite you to a special seminar on the life and works of Sir Roger Penrose- a Mathematician, Mathematical Physicist and Philosopher of Science- whose work has had a profound influence across multiple disciplines.
The talk will be delivered by none other than Professor Asghar Qadir, a distinguished Pakistani mathematician and one of Sir Penrose’s first students.
Date: October 16, 2020
Time: 11:00 am (PST)
The lecture will be held over Zoom.
Meeting ID: 964 1308 6194; Passcode: 411442
Join us for an informative session!
Abstract:
The lecture will focus on Roger Penrose as a person and as a supervisor. It will address some of his many contributions to Mathematics, Physics, Art and Architecture, including work that was not awarded the Nobel Prize.
The lecture will end with an attempt to explain the work he got the Nobel Prize for -“the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity”, and a mention of his ideas of Twistor Theory and Cycles of Times and on the Mind and Quantum Theory.
Speaker Profile:
Professor Asghar Qadir’s interests lie in aspects of Mathematical Physics and the Theory of Relativity and he specialises in Twistor Theory. He is a prolific author and has authored several internationally and nationally published books on Mathematical Physics, journal articles on Mathematical Physics as well as Economics. He has mentored several graduate students throughout his career and also served on important administrative positions, which include being the Chairman of the Mathematics Department at Quaid e Azam University, Islamabad, and later the Dean of Faculty of Natural Sciences at the same university. Professor Qadir formed the Center for Advanced Mathematics & Physics at the National University of Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, in 2004, served as its founding Director General until 2011 and as Professor Emeritus until 2019.
His contributions to the field as well as to academia have earned him numerous awards which include, but are not limited to, Fulbright Hayes award for 1978-79 and Senior Fulbright Fellowship for 1986-87, the Al-Kharizmi First Prize for Mathematics in 1995, Pakistan Academy of Sciences Gold Medal in 1996, Sitara-i-Imtiaz in 1999, ISESCO Award for Mathematics 2003, Distinguished National Professor of the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in 2004 (for life), and the Hilal-i-Imtiaz in 2008.
Professor Qadir has also authored popular articles and a literary criticism paper about “Popular Science and Science Fiction”. He also possesses a flare for writing poems in Urdu and English.
