Professor Joao Magueijo, Professor of Physics, presents his Inaugural Lecture: ‘Anarchy and phyiscal laws’.
Abstract: Even though the concept of evolution is central to biology, the immutability of physical laws is a feature taken for granted in almost all theories in physics. The Universe we live in, however, is blatantly changing—it came out of a very hot early phase and has been cooling down ever since then. This fact opens up the doors to the possibility that the laws of physics themselves might have evolved in time along with the Universe they rule, which could in turn determine them. I review some recent theories (and observations) suggesting that the laws of physics might not be ‘set in stone’ after all, and the related
concept of ‘emerging law’.
Biography: Joao Magueijo was born in Evora, Portugal in 1967. He got his PhD from Cambridge University in 1993, following which he became a Research Fellow at St John’s College. Since then his interests
have oscillated between observational and lunatic aspects of cosmology. The former concern data analysis issues associated with cosmic radiation and theories of structure formation. The latter include an
attempt to build cosmology upon theories permitting variation of the fundamental constants of nature. Since 1996 he has been at Imperial College, except for two years spent at the Perimeter Institute.
Anarchy and physical laws
Photo Gallery
Prof Joao Magueijo at his Inaugural lecture
Joao Medeiros, Joao Magueijo, Joaquim Rodrigues, Graziela de Nadai,
Otilia Matos and Katia Nery at the Inaugural reception
Kim Baskerville and Prof Joao Magueijo
Prof Joao Magueijo and Prof Peter Coles