University of Bristol Emeritus Prof Sir Michael Berry will give a public lecture in the Castle 2 lecture theatre at 6pm this Friday, as part of the James and Jean Davis Prestige Visitorship.
Sir Michael is known for his ground-breaking work in classical optics and quantum physics.
He has received numerous awards, including the Maxwell Medal and the Paul Dirac Medal of the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society’s Royal Medal, the London Mathematical Society’s Polya Prize, the Wolf Prize, the Lorentz Medal, and the Ig Nobel Prize in 2000.
He has also received 12 honorary doctorates, including from Trinity College Dublin, the Weizmann Institute, and Technion.
In his public lecture, titled "The Physics of Light in Eighty Pictures", Sir Michael will unveil the hidden geometries behind phenomena such as rainbows, twinkling stars and sunlight reflections.
From shimmering caustics to subtle wave vortices, each image reveals the intricate secrets of light’s behaviour.
Sir Michael said poets, novelists and painters often represented optical phenomena in ways "surprisingly close" to those of physicists.
The lecture would show where scientific brilliance meets artistic representation in the study of light.
University of Otago physics department head Blair Blakie was excited about the visit.
"We are really looking forward to his visit and it will be superb for the students in physics and maths to interact with such a legend.
"Sir Michael is a very prominent theoretical physicist working on a wide range of topics.
"His work is particularly relevant to the quantum science researchers in the physics department at Otago."
Prof Blakie said Prof Berry last visited the University of Otago in the mid-1990s.
"I was a PhD student at the time, and I still vividly recall him talking about rainbows and levitating (flying) frogs with magnetic fields.
"He got an Ig Nobel Prize for the flying frog work in 2000."
The Ig Nobel Prize honours achievements so imaginative and surprising that they spur people’s interest in science, medicine and technology.
The award honours achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think".
