Foto: Lund University, Faculty of Engineering/Charlotte Carlberg Bärg

We can now present the opening of the International Science Festival Gothenburg 16 April 2024! The keynote presentation is held by Nobel Prize winner Anne L´Huillier, which trough her extraordinary research has made it possible to capture the extremely fast movements of electrons. The discovery was made possible by sending short laser pulses trough gas, as short as attoseconds. During the evening we will also meet Professor Stefan Hemreich, MIT, who are researching what the waves of the ocean can tell us about our world.

The keynote presentation of the night is held by no less than the Nobel laureate 2023 In the keynote presentation, held by Anne L´Huillier, we will hear about her research in attophysics. Thanks to the work with light waves and attoseconds is it now possible to see the movement of electrons. To put attoseconds in perspective: One attoseconds relation to one second is like one second’s relation to the age of the universe. Even though electrons minimal size, are they controlling everything, they bind atoms together and form molecules, and together are they building the whole world. Their movements are critical to the traits of all matter around us.

L´Huillier’s work with laser created a new microscope that defines time. It gives us information about what is happening inside atoms, how electrons move and how things work inside matter. This knowledge will come in handy in the future in areas as electronics and medicine as well as incalculable areas we can only begin to imagine.

Further on will there be a conversation between Anne L´Huillier and Professor Stefan Helmreich which will be moderated by Marnie Chesterton, journalist and presenter at BBC´s Crowd Science. Professor Helmreich is an anthropologist and have researched the waves of the ocean and what information they contain. In his latest book A Book of Waves he is exploring how other researchers capture and model information of ocean waves. The book also reflects over the effects waves has had in different contexts and cultures.

The conversation between these two researchers will contain cross disciplinary discussions about what else waves can contribute to the development of our society and the world. What can waves tell us about our planet? Waves predicts geological events, the sea level rise due to climate change, and can give us geopolitical news about our planet.

Join us in a truly cross disciplinary night where we look closer at the theme of the International Science Festival: Waves.

Practical information

The opening takes place at Auktionsverket Kulturarena on 16 April and the doors are open from 5PM, where you are welcome to mingle and the program starts at 5.30 PM. The evening is planned wrap up around 7.30 PM. The event is free, but prebooking are needed. Tickets are released March 12.

You can also watch the program live from the Science Festivals website.