It's Always Something -- Or Is It?

The voyage into matter, where everything came from, and what might happen if it were all removed will be explored in "The Void – A Talk About Nothing," by Frank Close, a theoretical physicist, teacher and author, at the University of Leicester's Science Faculty Annual Lecture 2008, to be held March 12 at 7 p.m. in the Ken Edwards Building on the main campus. Close, who wrote The Void, The New Cosmic Onion and The Cosmic Onion, will pose the questions: What is the nature of the void? Why does nature abhor a vacuum? Could the universe really be a quantum fluctuation out of nothing? If so, who or what said so, and where was this encoded before? A physics professor and fellow at Exeter College in Oxford, England, Close was the recipient of the Kelvin Medal from the Institute of Physics in 1996 and headed communication and public education activities at CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) from 1997 to 2000. Professor Rob Hillman, dean of science at the University of Leicester, said, "We are accustomed to theoretical physics making us think about the microscopically small in the atomic world and the almost unbelievably immense in space -- but always something. Professor Close will now present us with the entirely new challenge of having to think about nothing." Admission is free, but tickets are required. Contact the university at science@le.ac.uk, or call (44-0116) 252-3403.