Date:
3/31/2008
Contact: Wendel Sloan at 575.562.2253
PORTALES—The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales is sponsoring a presentation by Alberto Rojo, recent Jack Williamson Endowed Chair, immediately preceding the Jack Williamson Lectureship on Friday, April 11. The associate professor of physics at Oakland University will speak on teleportation in “Jumper,” the book and movie, at 10 a.m. in the Sandia Room of the Campus Union Building.
The presentation is free and open to the public.
Rojo will discuss the scientific concepts behind the recent film that was based on the novel by author Steven Gould, this year’s Lectureship Guest of Honor. In the soon-to-be-released article on teleportation, Rojo focuses on the scientific concepts behind the premise of the film: among them, quantum mechanics, entanglement, elementary particles, and the conversion of matter into energy.
As Dr. Rojo observes, because of the incredibly small scales of quantum teleportation experiments conducted since 1997, “With teleportation the situation is different: it is an improbability rather than an impossibility, insinuating a communicating pathway below the divide that separates science and fiction.”
In addition to being a segue to author Steven Gould’s presentations throughout the day, Rojo's talk is a timely opportunity to link popular culture to current scientific topics. It gives participants the chance to explore both literature and science, as Gould’s protagonist does in his novel.