Lawrence Krauss on the Mysterious Allure of Extra Dimensions

In the world of every­day expe­ri­ence we con­ceive of three dimen­sions of space. Through any point, no more than three per­pen­dic­u­lar lines may pass. The notion that there might be more than three dimen­sions has tra­di­tion­al­ly been the domain of sci­ence fic­tion shows like The Twi­light Zone.

In this engag­ing lec­ture (click image above to watch), the­o­ret­i­cal physi­cist Lawrence Krauss explains the grow­ing respectabil­i­ty of extra-dimen­sion­al the­o­ries in physics, trac­ing the evo­lu­tion of the idea from Pla­to’s cave through Edwin A. Abbot­t’s Flat­land, and from Ein­stein-Minkows­ki space­time through Kaluza-Klein the­o­ry, on into mod­ern-day string the­o­ry.

Titled “Hid­ing in the Mir­ror: The Mys­te­ri­ous Allure of Extra Dimen­sions,” Krauss’s pre­sen­ta­tion was giv­en in Sep­tem­ber at a con­fer­ence in Oslo, Nor­way, orga­nized by the Fritt Ord Foun­da­tion. The speech lasts about an hour and is fol­lowed by a ques­tion-and-answer ses­sion.

via Richard Dawkins

Relat­ed Con­tent:

Lawrence Krauss Explains How You Get ‘A Uni­verse From Noth­ing’

Lawrence Krauss: Every Atom in Your Body Comes From a Star

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