Cafe Scientifique: 20th Century Physics Decade by Decade

Speaker: Dr. Fred Bortz, formerly of Carnegie Mellon, author of many science books for children and adults
Hope you had a great summer--it's back-to-beer-and-science time! (Not necessarily in that order--depending on your preference.) Dr. Fred Bortz, author of Physics: Decade by Decade, will talk to us about a few of the many surprises that twentieth century physics had in store for physicists who thought that most of the important questions had been answered. They fully expected to spend their careers refining theories and making more precise and accurate measurements of universal constants, but thankfully they were wrong. As Dr. Bortz writes: "Instead of tying up a few loose ends, physicists pulled on a few snags and watched the entire theoretical fabric of physics unravel. It would take most of the new century to reweave it."
Please join us for a rousing look at revolutions past, which may just shed some light on revolutions future! We'll be giving away a few of the speaker's books, and will have others for sale. As always, there will be fine food and beer to accompany the talk, and a lot of friendly, interesting people to talk to. Hope to see you there!
Tim Palucka and Angela Stabryla, organizers
Cafe Scientifique Pittsburgh (www.cafescipgh.org)