A hundred years ago, Albert Einstein delivered his Nobel lecture in the amusement park Liseberg in Gothenburg. To celebrate the anniversary, four distinguished Nobel laureates visited Liseberg’s theatre and Chalmers to shed light on the fascinating world of physics, during a two-day conference.
Stefan Bengtsson, the President and CEO of Chalmers, welcomed an eager audience to the grand physics event of the century at Liseberg’s theatre on June 1st. Nearly a hundred years ago, close by in the now demolished Kongresshallen, Albert Einstein delivered his Nobel lecture, coinciding with the Gothenburg Jubilee Exhibition and the first opening of Liseberg in 1923. The lecture was supposed to be about the photoelectric effect for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize, but instead, it revolved around the theory of relativity, which he had not yet gained full recognition for in the scientific community of that time.
Four Nobel laureates on stage
Now, in connection with the city's grand 400th anniversary, it was once again time for Nobel laureates in physics to visit the amusement park for a public event open to all physics enthusiasts. This time, not one, but four Nobel laureates took the stage: Serge Haroche, Didier Queloz, Donna Strickland, and David Wineland.
The day was filled with exciting lectures where the Nobel laureates illuminated the groundbreaking advancements they had contributed to science, drawing parallels to how Einstein's research influenced them. David Wineland spoke about atomic clocks in a lecture that related to Einstein's theory of relativity. Serge Haroche followed with a deep dive into the world of quantum physics - a field he likened to "Einstein's rebellious child" because this type of physics simply did not behave as Einstein would have predicted.
In the afternoon, Donna Strickland engagingly shared her research progress on lasers during a presentation connected to the photoelectric effect. Didier Queloz concluded the day with a visually captivating lecture on the first discovery of an exoplanet and how the search for these planets provides clues not only about possible life in the universe but also about how life originated and evolved on our own planet.
Full focus on Einstein
On the agenda for the day, were several other enlightening and entertaining program items that shed light on Einstein's visit to Gothenburg and his influence.
Julia Ravanis, a doctoral student at Chalmers and author of the acclaimed book Skönheten i kaos ("The Beauty in Chaos") and Ulf Danielsson, a physics professor at Uppsala University, together painted a picture of the contemporary view of Einstein's research and the successes and challenges he encountered.
Author Marie Hermanson graced the stage in connection with her book about the 1923 Jubilee Exhibition, titled Den stora utställningen ("The Great Exhibition"), a mystery novel that speculates about the reasons why Einstein was actually two days late for his Nobel lecture and why no one knows where he was.
After the presentations, the audience was invited to ask their own questions to the four Nobel laureates, Julia Ravanis, and Ulf Danielsson, an offer that many took advantage of.
Göteborgs-Posten columnist Kristian Wedel made the audience laugh with a speech in which he questioned whether anyone in the merchant and engineering city of that time could truly have understood Einstein's lecture (and the answer to that question was probably no, but he was still loved simply because he delivered the lecture in Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city, instead of Stockholm!).
The following day continued in the spirit of Einstein as three of the Nobel laureates visited Chalmers campus for a conference primarily aimed at researchers and students.
"The combination of the Nobel Prize and Einstein has sparked so much interest and enthusiasm in wide circles that this event has continuously grown on its own. It is incredibly exciting to be able to combine the memory of a milestone in Gothenburg's scientific history with a tribute to physics research today!" says Thomas Nilsson, Head of the Department of Physics and one of the members of the program committee for the event.
More about the Nobel laureates' prize-winning research
David J Wineland and Serge Haroche, Nobel Prize in Physics 2012
Both laureates represent the field of quantum optics, where the interaction between light and matter is studied. Their methods have much in common. David Wineland traps and measures electrically charged atoms, ions, in a trap, and controls them with light, i.e., photons. Serge Haroche, on the other hand, captures photons, measures them, and controls them using atoms sent through the trap. They have independently invented and developed groundbreaking methods for measuring and controlling individual particles, making them perform feats according to the rules of quantum physics in a way that was previously thought impossible.
Donna Strickland, Nobel Prize in Physics 2018
In 1985, Gérard Mourou and Donna Strickland succeeded in creating ultrashort, high-intensity laser pulses without destroying the amplifying material. They paved the way for the shortest and most intense laser pulses ever created by humans. The technique they developed has opened up new areas of research and led to broad industrial and medical applications. For example, millions of eye surgeries are now performed annually using the sharpest of light beams.
Didier Queloz, Nobel Prize in Physics 2019
In 1995, Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor made the very first discovery of a planet outside our solar system, an exoplanet, orbiting a sun-like star. The discovery challenged our understanding of these alien worlds and sparked a revolution in astronomy. The now over 4,000 known exoplanets surprise us with their diversity of forms, and most of the newly found planetary systems do not resemble our own with the Sun and its retinue of planets. These discoveries have led researchers to create new theories about the physical processes behind the formation of planets.
Organizers
The event Einstein '23 was organized by Chalmers University of Technology in collaboration with Göteborg & Co, Liseberg, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT).