Today@Dal

Killam lecture presented by Dr. Axel D. Becke, Canada Council Killam Prize Winner in Natural Sciences 2016 & Professor Emeritus, Dalhousie University

Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - 7:30 p.m.
Marion McCain Building, Ondaatje Hall
* For those unable to attend in-person, this event will be streamed online at dal.ca/killamlecture.

All matter in our everyday lives -- everything we touch and see, the stuff of which we ourselves are made -- consists of electrons moving in the fields of atomic nuclei. The theory governing the motions of electrons is called quantum theory. In this lecture, the fundamentals of quantum theory will be explained in simple terms, drawing heavily on musical analogies. It gets complicated, however, when very large numbers of electrons are involved, as is the case in the matter around us. A branch of quantum theory called "density-functional" theory can handle problems involving many - even countless - electrons, and is the foundation of most electronic structure computations today. Dr. Becke's contributions to the theory, including personal reminiscences of a career in science, will be discussed.