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Pupils, parents and staff who gathered in the Powell Theatre for the opening lecture of the HCS Science Society didn’t know quite what to expect from the Dr Lewney, the “Rock Guitar Physicist”. What they got was a high-octane performance combining the mind-bending theories of music and the universe with the immortal genius of classic rock, accompanied by his sparkling humour and an eclectic collection of props. Click here to read more.
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After warming up with a request show of rock anthems by heroes ranging from Led Zeppelin to ACDC, Dr Lewney (that is his real name!) set out on a journey into the most fundamental weirdness of physical reality, taking a spellbound audience of all ages with him. Starting out with the innocent theory of sounds waves and acoustics, illustrated magnificently with a wide range of articles – from the whammy bar on his guitar to a bull whip and an air bazooka – Lewney somehow managed to subtly warp (possibly time-warp) our minds as we began to understand theories of everything… literally everything. From guitar strings, swiftly moving onto string theory (the idea that the tiny particles which make up atoms are actually minute vibrating strings), and from there, onto the wonders of the expanding universe and general relativity. After that, the show just took on more and more dimensions. Eleven dimensions, to be precise.
Quizzing him afterwards, I realised that Dr Lewney is a man with a beautiful (or occasionally ridiculous) analogy for every possible scientific idea, and this certainly came across in his lecture. Somehow, he managed to explain the reality of time as a fourth dimension (an idea I struggled with all through Easter after attempting A Brief History of Time) perfectly by telling the life stories of a few ants on a piece of paper (and managing to include plenty of brilli-ant puns on the way). He then used this idea to further illustrate the idea of the expanding universe, but not without first getting us to grips with the basic idea, illustrated by the inflation of a large black balloon printed with stars. He even managed to include a description of the work of the Large Hadron Collider (an description that involved a number of the audience throwing various foam items). All in all, it was a whirlwind tour of just about everything that’s got to do with everything, concluding with a fabulous rendition of The Eagles’ Hotel California.
My thanks go out to Dr Lewney for kick-starting this society into something I hope will continue to inspire and inform anyone who wants to understand more about science.
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