Contact: Ralph Derickson

Suketu Bhavsar

All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information on UK’s “Einstein and Beyond” lecture series, visit the Web site. For more a detailed calendar of Arts and Sciences Geek Week 2005 events, visit the Web site.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 14, 2005) -- The University of Kentucky Department of Physics and Astronomy – in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences Geek Week 2005 – continues its four-part lecture series “Einstein and Beyond,” in celebration of the World Year of Physics 2005 with two lectures scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 24.

Suketu Bhavsar, UK associate professor of physics and astronomy, discusses “Why Time Is Relative—Einstein’s Amazing Year” at 3 p.m. Feb. 24 in 206 Student Center. Bhavsar will explore the brilliant thought experiments that led Einstein to his Theory of Relativity and E=mc².

Then, Eric Adelberger, professor of physics and adjunct professor of astronomy at the University of Washington in Seattle, discusses “ How Many Dimensions Does the Universe Have ... Really?” The lecture begins at 7 p.m. Feb. 24 in Memorial Hall.

UK joins hundreds of institutions around the globe in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s “ miraculous year” of 1905, in which he reshaped the course of modern physics with the publication of three groundbreaking theories, including the principle of relativity.

Other speakers in the “Einstein and Beyond” lecture series include Barry Barish, director of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) and the Linde Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology, who will speak on “Einstein’s Legacy: Our Best Description of the Universe” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in Memorial Hall.

Joseph Polchinski, professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara, will speak on “The Search for Nature's Ultimate Building Blocks” at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 31, in 107 Thomas Hunt Morgan Biological Sciences Building.

All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information on UK’s “Einstein and Beyond” lecture series, visit the Web site. For more a detailed calendar of Arts and Sciences Geek Week 2005 events, visit the Web site.