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Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, the 1991 Nobel laureate in physics who has been hailed as the "Isaac Newton of our time," will speak at the University March 24.
His lecture, "Bubbles, Foams and other Fragile Objects," is intended for a general audience. It will take place at 7 p.m. in the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building auditorium, located at 301 Pittsboro St. on campus.
The public is invited to meet de Gennes at a reception preceding the lecture at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby. Both the reception and lecture are free and open to the public.
De Gennes' visit to Carolina will kick off the Chancellor's Science Seminar Series, a series of public lectures featuring world-renowned researchers in the basic and applied sciences. The purpose of the new series is to enhance public awareness and understanding of scientific challenges and discoveries, as well as to highlight the University's research efforts, said Greg Forest, senior associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.
On March 25, de Gennes will address undergraduate and graduate science students in 207 Venable Hall. His 4 p.m. lecture, "Naive Ideas on the Dynamics of Long Chains: DNA Entry in Electroporated Cells" is geared toward a scientific audience, but anyone may attend.
That lecture starts the chemistry department's new J.J. Hermans Lectureship Series, honoring the late Jan Joseph Hermans, professor emeritus at Carolina, who contributed to the understanding of polymer physics throughout his long and productive career.
Like Newton, the 17th-century scientist who established a set of basic laws explaining motion and gravity, de Gennes is known for reducing a broad range of complex phenomena to a few simple truths.
Born in 1932, de Gennes is one of the most influential scientists in the world and holds positions at the most prestigious academic institutions in France. He is professor of solid-state physics at the College de France and director of the Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris.
His area of expertise is "condensed matter physics," studying the behavior of matter in its solid, gaseous or liquid phases.
To explain how matter behaves while changing from one phase to another, physicists have examined changes in the orientation of its molecules. For example, in the liquid phase, the molecules assume random orientations; in crystals, they line up in the same direction.
The contribution de Gennes made was establishing general rules for how matter behaves during the transition from one phase to another, which allowed him to explain and predict behavior in liquid crystals.
Also, de Gennes pointed out analogies between the behavior of liquid crystals and superconductors -- materials that conduct electricity with extremely high efficiency -- that shed important light on both. He also discovered similar rules to explain fundamental puzzles in the behavior of polymers, materials made up of long chains of molecules that include natural substances like wool and cotton, and synthetic plastics like nylon, polyester and plexiglass.
Having studied adhesives and glues, de Gennes accurately predicted that one day airplanes would be glued and not riveted.
After he received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1991, de Gennes spent two years visiting schools and science clubs throughout France to talk about the role of science in the modern world and the thrill of scientific discovery. His visits often prompted lively discussions and probing questions among students.
Because de Gennes is well-known for making science interesting to children and lay audiences, Carolina officials have invited several classes of public-school students to attend his lecture March 24.
His book, Fragile Objects: Soft Matter, Hard Science and the Thrill of Discovery, emerged from the lectures and discussions he conducted during his two-year tour.
After earning his doctorate in physics from the Centre d'Etude Atomique de Saclay, de Gennes completed post-doctoral studies at the University of California at Berkeley.
Besides holding the Nobel Prize, de Gennes has been honored with the Holweck Prize from the joint French and British Physical Society; the Ampere Prize from the French Academy of Science; the Mattauci Medal from the Italian Academy of Science; the Lorentz Prize from the Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences; and polymer awards from both the American Physics Society and the American Chemistry Society.
He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the Dutch Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
His March 24 lecture is sponsored by the University's Office of Graduate Studies and Research, the College of Arts and Sciences and the chemistry department. His March 25 lecture is sponsored by the chemistry department.
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