Two accomplished scientists and researchers will present their views on science, philosophy, and religion as part of Texas A&M University’s annual Trotter Endowed Lecture Series.
Dr. Sean Carroll, Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University and fractal faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, and Dr. Michael G. Strauss, David Ross Boyd Professor of Physics at the University of Oklahoma, will deliver a joint public lecture Wednesday, Apr. 24, at 7 p.m. in MSC Bethancourt Ballroom.
The presentation will feature talks by Carroll and Strauss along with a question-and-answer segment. The event is free and open to the public and will be followed by a reception. Register here: http://tx.ag/trotter24
Dr. Sean Carroll
In “The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself,” Carroll shares that human beings are made from the same particles and forces that make up rocks, rivers and planets. But the world as described by science, from quantum uncertainty to the genetic code and the expansion of the universe, can seem exotic and alien to us. Carroll will talk about how our human-sized world fits into the bigger picture defined by the underlying laws of nature — in particular, how our impressions of cause and effect and the appearance of complex structures can be traced to special conditions near the Big Bang — and what that implies for meaning and mattering in the universe.
Caroll’s research focuses on the foundations of physics, including issues in quantum mechanics, spacetime, cosmology and emergence. He has authored several books, most recently “The Biggest Ideas in the Universe, Vol. 1: Space, Time and Motion.” He has been awarded prizes and fellowships from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the Sloan Foundation, the Packard Foundation, the American Physical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of London, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the American Association for Advancement of Science. He is the host of the weekly “Mindscape” podcast.
Dr. Michael G. Strauss
Strauss's talk “Does Science Tell Us Anything About God?” addresses the limitations and broader definitions of science. While the definition of science in a dictionary often confines scientific inquiry to the physical or material realm, alternative definitions allow for exploration beyond natural phenomena. Despite this limitation, modern scientific revelations regarding the universe's origins and its apparent design have sparked extensive discussion among scientists, philosophers, and theologians regarding potential theistic implications. This presentation will examine several of these discoveries, their implications, and the ensuing dialogue.
The Trotter Prize and Endowed Lecture Series seeks to illuminate connections between science and religion, often viewed in academia as non-overlapping if not rival world views. The series was established in 2001 by Dr. Ide P. Trotter Jr. ’54 and Luella H. Trotter with a matching contribution from ExxonMobil Corp. to honor Ide P. Trotter Sr., former dean of Texas A&M University’s Graduate School, and to recognize pioneering contributions to the understanding of the role of information, complexity and inference in illuminating the mechanisms and wonder of nature.
To learn more about the history of the Trotter Lecture Series and past presenters, visit https://engineering.tamu.edu/events/trotter.html.