The next talk in the Faculty Lecture Series, hosted by the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, will take place on Thursday, Oct. 20, from noon to 1:00 p.m., in the Alvin Sherman Library, Second Floor Gallery. Diego Castano, Ph.D., associate professor in the college, will present “Motion: Truth or Convention.”
The knowledge that certain physical concepts are relative, rather than absolute, is well-known in the scientific realm, but is also a widely disseminated idea in the lay world. Although Einstein is often assumed to be the originator of the general concept of relativity, the subject had its beginnings with Galileo.
Velocity is considered the simplest quantifiable indicator of motion. However, it has been known for 400 years that the velocity of material bodies is relative rather than absolute. What is not well-known is that for the last 100 years, there has been a debate over whether velocity is also conventional, to wit, not determinable without recourse to some arbitrary prior agreement. Castano’s lecture will further discuss this debate.
The Faculty Lecture Series draws from the knowledge and expertise of more than 120 full-time faculty members within the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences. The series explores the faculty’s diverse areas of interest in the arts, humanities, social sciences, physical sciences, and biological sciences. These talks are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Jim Doan, Ph.D., at (954) 262-8207.