** Live ** The Looking Glass Universe: From Baryogenesis to Biogenesis

Is there a connection between the excess of matter over antimatter and handedness in biology?

Joint lecture with the Herschel Astronomy Group and the Science Group

The laws of physics were long thought to be unchanged when viewed in a mirror. We have known for over sixty years that they are not.
 As Sakharov first explained, this asymmetry, in action during the first moments of the universe, may account for the prevalence of matter over antimatter today.
 Likewise, as Pasteur first showed, the laws of biology are similarly asymmetric, as is exhibited by the structure of DNA.
 In this talk I will discuss how there might be a causal connection between these two qualities, mediated by cosmic rays.
 On the way, Roger Blandford will illustrate this uneven-handedness using recent, exciting, astronomical discoveries, involving black holes, neutron stars and exoplanets.
 
Roger Blandford took his BA, MA and PhD degrees at Cambridge University.  In 2003 He moved to Stanford University to becomethe first Director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology and the Luke Blossom Chair in theSchool of Humanities and Science. His research interests include black hole astrophysics, cosmology, gravitationallensing, cosmic ray physics and compact stars. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts andSciences, the American Physical Society and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.
 
Image Credit:  ESO/APEX & MSX/IPAC/NASA         https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0924e/

Roger Blandford, KIPAC, Stanford University

Premier Event
7.30pm
Visitors £7, Members and Students £4