A series of documentary films on the most prominent living scientists.
A series of documentary films on popular science under the title “Pioneers” is a one of a kind undertaking. Karol Jałochowski, the person behind the idea and the creator of all the films, reached out to the most prominent living scientists of the modern world and has created a series of popular science documentaries presenting the personalities behind the greatest minds of the twenty first century, in an unconventional way. Each episode presents the most fascinating thinkers of our time (often winners of the Noble Prize and other scientific awards), pioneers, people crossing the boundaries on their scientific fields and disciplines, working on the edge of knowledge, asking the absolutely fundamental questions – those relating the the nature of reality, the essence of the mind and free will or the relation between science and faith.
Each part of the “Pioneers” series is dedicated to one scientist and consists of an extended recording of a meeting with the protagonist at a place he selected, enhanced by materials from the archives (photos, film fragments, etc.) and private materials. The film presents a profile and views of the scientists in an unconventional way, far away from the university office or lecture hall.
First screening will take place on 28th January at 18.00. We will present:
DANIEL DENNETT – DO LOBSTERS HAVE A FREE WILL?
Daniel Dennett from Tufts University is the most important philosopher of the mind of our times, a great reformer of the field of knowledge. He is also the author of several hundred scientific papers and more than a dozen books. For nearly half a century he has been searching for the answer to the question: What is consciousness? What is free will? How is reality born and how does it evolve? Is faith a natural phenomenon? What are the roots of irrationalism? The film is a recording of a personal meeting with the philosopher at his home in northern New England.
Time and place:
Screenings start at 18.00
AGH Building B8 room 010
Wydział Inżynierii Materiałowej i Ceramiki
al. Mickiewicza 30, Kraków
Schedule:
25th February: Roy Glauber – There and back
The youngest and likely the only surviving scientific participant of the Manhattan project and a Noble prize winner in 2005. As a result of the Manhattan programme, the first nuclear bomb was created (Glauber witnessed its first test), attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki happened, the discovery of thermonuclear bomb occurred, and a reconfiguration of the power balance after World War Two took place. The episode presents Glauber’s personal recollections and thoughts about the project and
the profile of the Harvard professor.
31st March: Gregory Chaitin – Miracle island
Gregory Chaitin is a mathematician, an expert of complexity. Already as a young prodigy he contributed greatly to the philosophy of mathematics and computer science. The mathematician proves that there is not such thing as absolute certainty in mathematics. There are truths that cannot be proven, problems that are impossible to solve. And for him this is a reason for huge optimism. The creativity needed to tackle difficulties is no different than the creativity that nature displays in the incredible imagination of creation. For Chaitin, this analogy is not an accident and proves its validity mathematically. The meeting with the mathematician and his wife takes place at a small Brazilian island Paqueta, a philosophical haven for the Chaitins.
28th April: Julian Barbour – The end of time as we know it
Julian Barbour is an independent — although affiliated with Oxford University — physicist, a historian of science, author of various papers and several books. For more than thirty years, he has been removing what he believes to be unnecessary terms from the physics toolbox. One of them is time, which, according to Barbour, is an illusion. It is completely unnecessary to describe the world scientifically. In recent years, he has been working on a theory explaining where our sense of passage of time and its direction, associated with this illusion, comes from. We meet Barbour at his home in a small village near Oxford, accompanying him in his daily household chores.
After the screenigs meetings with director and experts
Admission free