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Last Friday, went to a very interesting lecture at Melbourne Uni, delivered by a Physics professor. It’s about using the results of atom-splitting experiments to understand more about the big bang theory. Particle accelerator pushing subatomic particle through a tunnel (27km in diameter, according to Rob’s memory) underground, beneath fields of grazing cows, culminating in a collision of particles that spawns energy and new subatomic particles.

Understanding this would help us understand the particle collisions and energy generation that was part of the big bang. Using the microcosm to understand the macrocosm so to speak.

Here are some of the amazing statements made by the lecturer (my paraphrase):-

• We only know about 4% of the matter in the universe. The other is made up of dark matter and dark energy.
• There is the first dimension (lecturer waves hand backwards and forward), second dimension (waves hand left and right), third dimension (hand goes up and down), and of course time is the fourth dimension. We believe there may be six other dimension accounting for the unexplainable behaviour of atoms at subatomic level.

Now, I don’t know to laugh or to cry with the absolute certainty with which the above was declared. In his shoes, I would probably would have been content to say: (1) In truth we know very little, and (2) There is a lot more that we don’t know. But then that sounds so inane I would have been booed out of the lecture hall.

But I did enjoy the evening, if anything it was entertaining, thought-provoking, a crash course in sub-atomic physics. I was also sitting next to two pre-pubescent boy geniuses, who asked stupendous questions about the “singularity” of the experiments. Making me feel very dumb indeed. The lectures were part of the popular July series of public physics lectures run by the university.

Edit: After watching Tombraider the movie, I was impelled to add to this post, the Blake micropoem: ” To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower / Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour. ”