Abstract:
The universe is enormous and nearly empty -- mostly nothing. And although your body seems solid, tiny particles such as neutrinos, muons, and dark matter are constantly passing through you as though you are nothing at all. But what is nothing, really? And is empty space actually so empty? Join Dr. James Beacham, physicist from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, as he explores what it means to be something in a vast cosmos of nothing, and how to maintain sanity in a world filled with pseudoscience and misinformation.
About the Speaker:
Dr. James Beacham is a physicist and filmmaker. He has spent the majority of his career searching for dark matter and quantum black holes at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, also affiliated with Duke University and the Max Planck Institute. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics as a core member of one of the two teams that discovered the Higgs boson particle. In addition to his research he regularly speaks on stages around the world and appears in TV series and documentaries, on podcasts and radio shows, and in the press. Beacham is a film and multimedia artist, exhibiting at venues internationally.