Big Science, Big Discoveries - Barry C Barish (Nobel Prize in Physics 2017)

International large-scale experiments are playing an ever-increasing role in the advances in physics and astronomy. The past few years have seen Nobel Prizes from discoveries in physics experiments, including neutrino experiments in Japan and Canada that established that neutrinos have mass and oscillate, the discovery of the Higgs Boson in two very large experiments at CERN, and the discovery of gravitational waves in LIGO, a large sophisticated experiment.

The tremendous advances in modern technology and computing are now enabling experimentalists to build large-scale instruments of unprecedented sophistication and capability. In addition, the advent of large international collaborations are bringing together the best skills, worldwide, to attack the most fundamental problems in physics and astronomy. There is every reason to believe this trend will continue into the future and will lead to a new era of discoveries! With this in mind, Barish will discuss the emergence of mega-science experimentation, the potential and challenges. Finally, he will explore future prospects in several areas, including particle physics experiments on accelerators, neutrino experiments, gravitational waves experiments and large-scale survey instruments for astronomy.

Arranged by Brahe Educational Foundation & Nordita - Niels Bohr Colloquium in collaboration with Oskar Klein Center

Financial sponsors: Gisela Eckhardt and Barbro Osher Foundation