Mark Alford Professor of Physics, Washington University in Saint Louis Mark Alford is chairman of the physics department at Washington University in Saint Louis. He performs research at the intersection of particle physics, nuclear physics, and astrophysics, focusing on the theory of neutron stars and the ultradense matter that exists inside them. After receiving his Ph.D. from Harvard University, he held research positions at U.C. Santa Barbara, Cornell University, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and M.I.T., and then a lectureship at Glasgow University. In 2005 he received an Outstanding Junior Investigator award from the U.S. Department of Energy. For the last five years Prof. Alford has taught Washington University’s “Physics and Society” course, introducing the non-science students to the methods of physics and their application to questions that confront us as citizens of a developed and developing world. Participant In: Complexity and Emergence Saturday, November 15, 2014 2:30-4:30 pm Past Event Watch the video » Psychobiologist Roger Sperry proposed that, “mind and consciousness are dynamic emergent properties of the living brain in action.” This seemingly simple observation raises a host of questions. How do novel entities arise from self-organizing complex systems? If a system itself shows adaptive, self-organizing properties not attributable to its aggregate micro-potentialities—such that at each new level… read more »
Complexity and Emergence Saturday, November 15, 2014 2:30-4:30 pm Past Event Watch the video » Psychobiologist Roger Sperry proposed that, “mind and consciousness are dynamic emergent properties of the living brain in action.” This seemingly simple observation raises a host of questions. How do novel entities arise from self-organizing complex systems? If a system itself shows adaptive, self-organizing properties not attributable to its aggregate micro-potentialities—such that at each new level… read more »