Numbers and Nature: Mitchell J. Feigenbaum Symposium

Professor Mitchell J. Feigenbaum passed away on June 30, 2019. He is best known for his fundamental contributions to chaos theory. To celebrate his life and scientific legacy, MIT will host a symposium June 2-3, 2022. The symposium will feature current topics in nonlinear science, broadly conceived, as well as recent research in other areas that would have fascinated Feigenbaum. The symposium will not just be a tribute to Mitchell’s accomplishments but primarily a celebration of curiosity-driven, basic research.

Organizers

● Executive Committee: David Campbell (BU), Predrag Cvitanović (Georgia Tech), Gemunu Gunaratne (U. Houston), and Daniel Rothman (MIT).

● International Advisory Committee: Sir Michael Berry (U Bristol), Leonid Bunimovich (Georgia Tech), Giulio Casati (Insubria), Fred Cooper (Los Alamos), Mogens Jensen (Niels Bohr Institute), Leon Glass (McGill), Nigel Goldenfeld (UC San Diego), Joel Lebowitz (Rutgers), Albert Libchaber (Rockefeller), Marcelo Magnasco (Rockefeller), Renu Malhotra (U Arizona), Yves Pomeau (Ecole Normale), Itamar Procaccia (Weizmann Institute), Sara A. Solla (Northwestern), Harry Swinney (U Texas)

Sponsored by the School of Science, the Lorenz Center, the David and Edith Harris Fund, and the Departments of Physics and of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

PLEASE REGISTER TO ATTEND BY MAY 31
The event will also be available VIA LIVESTREAM.

Questions? View the event page or contact Alma Pellecer: pellecer@mit.edu

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AGENDA — Thursday, June 2 

8:30 Registration

9:00 Welcome
Daniel Rothman — Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center, MIT-EAPS
Gemunu Gunaratne — Moores Professor of Physics, University of Houston

9:10 – MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1

Maps and Shapes
L. Mahadevan — Professor of Physics, de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard
Geometry, Topology, and Electrophysiology
Adam Cohen — Professor of Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and Physics, Harvard
Mitchell’s Role in Chaos (Presented via Zoom)
Albert Libchaber — Detlev W. Bronk Professor of Physics, Rockefeller University

10:40 Coffee Break  —  Chipman Room 6-104

11:00 – MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2

Ein Sturm im Wasserglas
Björn Hof — Professor of Physics, IST Austria
Hydrodynamics and Microbes
Alex Petroff — Professor of Physics, Clark University
Life and Death of Turbulence
Nigel Goldenfeld — Swanlund Chair and Center for Advanced Study Professor of Physics, UC San Diego

12:30 Lunch on your own

2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION

Optics, Vision, and Evolution After Mitchell Feigenbaum
Jean-Pierre Eckmann — Professeur Honoraire, University of Geneva
The DeltaCELT Rattleback and Anamorphic Images
Ken Brecher — Professor Emeritus, Boston University
Stories of Fluids and Light (Presented via Zoom)
Reymond E. Goldstein — Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems, University of Cambridge
Mathematics, Computation, and Nature
Stephen Wolfram — Founder and CEO, Wolfram Research

4:00 Coffee Break  —  Chipman Room 6-104

4:30 PUBLIC LECTURE

Four Illusions
Sir Michael Berry — Melville Wills Professor of Physics (Emeritus), University of Bristol

6:00 Public Reception  |  Ida Green Lounge, Building 54, Room 923

7:30 Dinner | Morss Hall, Walker Memorial, Building 50
By Invitation — Registration Required

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AGENDA — Friday, June 3 

8:30 Registration

9:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 1

Turbulence, From Newton’s Quadratic Law of Drag to Mitchell Feigenbaum and Recent Times
Yves Pomeau — Emeritus Research Director, French National Centre for Scientific Research
Broken Symmetries in Living Systems
Nikta Fakhri — Thomas D. and Virginia W. Cabot Career Development Professor, MIT-Physics
Overcoming the Random Closed Packed Barrier: Crystallization in Granular Media (Presented via Zoom)
Harry Swinney — Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

10:30 Coffee Break  —  Chipman Room 6-104

11:00 MORNING LECTURE SESSION 2

Singularity in a Teacup — When Nature Gives Infinity
Dwight Barkey — Professor of Mathematics, University of Warwick
Vortex Sheets and Turbulent Statistics (Presented via Zoom)
Sasha Migdal — Research Professor of Physics, NYU
Venus as a Potentially Habitable Planet
Sara Seager — Class of 1941 Professor of Planetary Science, Professor of Physics, and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT-EAPS, Physics and AeroAstro

12:30 Lunch on your own

2:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 1

Encoding Patterns in Single-Cell Locomotion: Oscillations, Synchronization, and Excitability
Kirsty Wan — ERC Starting Grantee, Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
The Mysteries of Gaps and Pile-Ups at Planetary Resonances
Renu Malhotra — Louise Foucar Marshall Science Research Professor and Regents Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona
Neural Manifolds for Control of Movement (Presented via Zoom)
Sara A. Solla — Professor of Neuroscience and Physics, Northwestern

3:30 Coffee Break  —  Chipman Room 6-104

4:00 AFTERNOON LECTURE SESSION 2

Hydrodynamic Quantum Analogs
John Bush — Professor of Applied Mathematics and Fluid Dynamics, MIT-Math
Shocks and Surprises: Screening of Elasticity by Plastic Charges in Amorphous Solids
Itamar Procaccia —  Barbara and Morris L. Levinson Professorial Chair in Chemical Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science
Glassy Dynamics in Earth’s Carbon Cycle
Dan Rothman — Professor of Geophysics and Co-Director of the Lorenz Center, MIT-EAPS

5:30 Adjourn