Creativity and Physics

Creativity Across the Disciplines seminar

Scientific progress can build directly upon previous knowledge or can occur as a series of revolutions, which form new paradigms in our understanding. Perhaps the measure of genius, therefore, is the ability of an individual to make great leaps in understanding, so great that these seem unconnected to anything that has previously been known. Creating new knowledge, it could therefore be argued, fits onto a scale, which specifies the degree of connectivity between the new idea to the previous understanding - this is what I will call the 'Scale of Creativity'.

This talk will investigate the discovery of quantum theory within the context of creativity; by describing the process of knowledge creation, as well as creativity in its application. By looking at the connectiveness of quantum theory to previous knowledge, we can attempt to quantify its position on the 'Scale of Creativity' and measure its impact by investigating its connection to post-discovery developments.

This seminar is one of a series of seminars in Creativity Across the Disciplines organised by the Centre for Research into Imagination, Creativity and Knowledge (CRICK), in association with the Centre for Modern Studies and the Humanities Research Centre.  Read more