You could either feel awe-inspired or small, listening to Max Tegmark's lecture at the University of Delaware on Wednesday afternoon on the probability of the existence of parallel universes mimicking or diverging from our own. Tegmark, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania, discussed the multiverse (more than one "uni-" verse) with a standing-room-only group of more than 50 budding physicists and assorted philosophy, biology and science majors at a UD Department of Physics and Astronomy lecture. Of course, your reaction depends upon your point of view. If you're still reeling from the counter-intuitive fact that the Earth is not located at the center of the universe - let alone the solar system; that our solar system is tucked away in some obscure outer arm of a milky swirl of stars; and that our galaxy is but one of a lot more hurtling at enormous speeds through icy and indifferent space - Tegmark's theories that multiple versions of yourself probably exist out there, somewhere, makes old-fashioned common sense seem even more irrelevant. "There may be at least a thousand parallel universes out there," Tegmark told his audience, and it's all based on the latest measuring capabilities and mathematical equations devised by physicists in the past few years. Tegmark has published many articles about the subject in academic periodicals and more mainstream magazines, including "Scientific American." Born in Sweden, he earned a doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley and post-doctorate degrees in Europe and at Princeton.
View: Full Article | Source: Delaware On-Line