In this eloquent lecture, the Italian theoretical physicist and writer Carlo Rovelli takes audiences on a journey to the edges of our understanding of time. Working from ideas explored in his book The Order of Time (2017), Rovelli explores the theories of thinkers from Aristotle to Newton to Einstein up to his own work on quantum gravity, brushing up against what we know about time and what remains a mystery. Using metaphors and examples to elucidate enigmatic concepts, Rovelli helps to untangle why, on the surface, our experience of time seems so at odds with how physicists and philosophers view it.
Video by the Royal Institution
video
Computing and artificial intelligence
A future in which ‘artificial scientists’ make discoveries may not be far away
9 minutes
video
History
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes
video
Earth science and climate
Images carved into film form a haunting elegy for a disappearing slice of Earth
3 minutes
video
Meaning and the good life
Leading 1950s thinkers on the search for happiness in trying times
29 minutes
video
Biology
Butterflies become unrecognisable landscapes when viewed under electron microscopes
4 minutes
video
Engineering
Can monumental ‘ice stupas’ help remote Himalayan villages survive?
15 minutes
video
Virtues and vices
Why Bennie tried to disappear, and what happened when he was found decades later
16 minutes
video
Cognition and intelligence
A father forgets his child’s name for the first time in this poetic reflection on memory
4 minutes
video
Animals and humans
Join seabirds as they migrate, encountering human communities along the way
13 minutes