About the lecture

In this mini-lecture, we explore miraculous patterns in the Universe that can be described by mathematics and which define the laws of physics. In particular, we think about: (i) patterns in the physical world that link measurable quantities and the relationships between these quantities, such as Einstein’s E = mc²; (ii) the patterns and abstractions of ideas in mathematics; (iii) the differences between physics and mathematics; (iv) Isaac Newton, who developed the first theory of gravity; (v) Newton’s Principia; and (vi) calculus, which enabled the implementation of the Newtonian agenda to make accurate predictions about the world, such as those regarding tides and paths of cosmic objects.

About the lecturer

Graham Farmelo is an award-winning biographer and science writer, a Fellow at Churchill College, University of Cambridge, and a regular visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He is the author of The Strangest Man, a prize-winning biography of the theoretical physicist Paul Dirac, and The Universe Speaks in Numbers. From 1990–2003, Farmelo was a senior executive at the Science Museum in London. In this role, he responsible for a variety of initiatives concerning the presentation of contemporary science and technology in exhibitions, notably the planning and delivery of the Wellcome Wing and the Dana Centre.