Look Who's Talking: Conference to Unite Language of Physicists


     Hopkins will host a four-day international conference next
week that strives to unite physics, astrophysics and cosmology. 
The PASCOS/Hopkins Symposium on Particles, Strings and Cosmology
will be March 22 to 25, at the Bloomberg Center for Physics and
Astronomy. The conference will bring together experts in the
fields of particle physics, cosmology, astrophysics and "string
theory," which theorizes that elementary particles are not
particles at all, but tiny loops of relativistic string.

     Scientists are being encouraged to write their lectures so
that experts in other fields can understand the material, said
Jonathan Bagger, a professor in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy. "I'd say it's one of the few major conferences where
people in the different fields actually try to sit down and talk
to each other," Dr. Bagger said.

     The symposium combines two previously separate conferences.
The Johns Hopkins Workshop on Particle Physics has been held
annually for 20 years. The PASCOS Symposium has been held for the
past five years. This year Hopkins was invited to host the PASCOS
Symposium, so the conferences were combined.

     The interdisciplinary approach is a natural progression,
since many of the sciences are intertwined. 

     For example, high-energy particle physics is naturally
linked to cosmology, since physicists recreate conditions that
existed in the early universe, producing particles that existed
at the dawn of time. Another example is string theory, which has
deep connections to modern mathematics.

     Top scientists from around the world will deliver lectures
during the conference. Most of the presentations will be held in
the Schafler Auditorium. But one presentation, highlights from
the Hubble Space Telescope, will be held at Space Telescope
Science Institute. 

     For more information, call Dr. Bagger at 516-5419.
Information also is available on the World Wide Web. The address
is http://fermi.pha.jhu.edu/pascos_hopkins. html.