Public Lectures
At ICTS, science outreach for school and college students and civic society in general is taken very seriously. ICTS regularly organizes public lectures given by eminent visitors. Public lectures bring exciting new developments in science to the general public and play an important role in engaging students and civic society at large on issues of modern science.
Past Lectures
The Many-Body Physics of Computation
Vedika Khemani (Stanford University, USA)
15 January 2025, 14:30 to 16:00
Chandrasekhar Auditorium, ICTS, Bengaluru
Abstract: Computation is built on the fundamental laws of physics. At its heart, computation is a dance of countless interacting particles — what physicists call a many-body system — whether the computation is done by classical bits in a chip or qubits in a quantum processor. In this lecture, I...more
On Rational and Irrational Numbers, Strings and Harmony
Uri Onn (Mathematical Sciences Institute, ANU), Shubhadeep Chakraborty (Guitar), Michelle Simons (Cello) and Sayantan Mandal (Piano)
06 December 2024, 16:30 to 18:15
Chandrasekhar Auditorium, ICTS
This lecture aims at introducing the general audience to a beautiful relationship between maths, physics and music. We will explore the evolution of ideas that led to the equal temperament, the 12-note system which prevails in much music worldwide. The main characters in this story are the wave...more
The Dynamic Universe
Shri Kulkarni (Caltech)
28 July 2024, 17:00 to 18:30
Bangalore Town Hall (Sir K. P. Puttanna Chetty Town Hall)
Abstract: Every second a supernova is exploding somewhere in the universe. Astronomers cannot see all of them, but the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a robotic camera based at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory enables scientists to capture thousands of such explosions every year, shedding new light...more
Evolution of women over the last 50 years
Sudha Murty (Founder of Infosys Foundation, Author, Philanthropist, Chairperson of Murty Trust and Rajya Sabha MP)
18 June 2024, 15:45 to 16:45
Ramanujan Lecture Hall, ICTS
About the speaker: Mrs. Murty was born on August 19, 1950, in Shiggaon, North Karnataka. She grew up in a close-knit family with her parents and three siblings. In 1972, Mrs. Murty completed her engineering in Electronics & Electrical Engineering from B.V.B College of Engineering &...more
The Forever War Against Cancer
Herbert Levine (Northeastern University)
11 March 2024, 16:30 to 18:00
Ramanujan Lecture Hall
Abstract: It has been over 30 years since the US government declared war on cancer. While there have been many positive developments over that period, we still face the world with many millions of cancer deaths per year. This talk will focus on recent improvements in our understanding of cancer and...more
On Quarks and Turbulence
David Tong (University of Cambridge)
20 December 2023, 04:00 to 05:30
Chandrasekhar Auditorium, ICTS, Bengaluru
Abstract: In this talk, Prof. Tong will describe two of the biggest unsolved problems in physics. Why are quarks trapped inside protons and neutrons? And what is turbulence? Along the way, he will discuss what it means for physicists to understand something. About the Speaker: David Tong is a...more
Technology & Cosmic Frontiers
Kip S. Thorne (Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics (Emeritus), Caltech Nobel Laureate in Physics, 2017) and Rana Adhikari (Professor of Physics, Caltech)
19 August 2021, 19:00 to 20:00
Online
A lecture-symposium series from the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor, Government of India and International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research Exploring the Universe with Gravitational Waves: Kip Thorne Six years ago LIGO initiated gravitational-wave...more
Big Bang, Black Holes & Gravitational Waves
Abhay Ashtekar (Institute for Gravitation & the Cosmos and Physics Department, The Pennsylvania State University)
21 August 2019, 16:00 to 17:00
Chandrasekhar Auditorium, ICTS-TIFR, Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru
Big Bang, Black Holes and Gravitational Waves now appear as compelling – even Obvious –consequences of general relativity. Therefore, it may seem surprising that none of these ideas were readily accepted. Not only was there considerable debate, but in fact leading figures were often arguing on what...more
(Un)seen at last: the black hole in M87
Rajaram Nityananda (Azim Premji University, Bengaluru & former Director of NCRA-TIFR, Pune)
29 April 2019, 16:00 to 17:30
Chandrasekhar Auditorium, ICTS-TIFR, Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru
The image of a ring of emission at 1.3 mm wavelength at the centre of the galaxy M87 has caught everyone’s imagination. It is direct evidence of a long suspected black hole, and was made by combining signals from antennas spanning much of the globe, This lecture will describe three streams flowing...more
What is common between falling cats and the Quantum Hall Effect?
Alexander Abanov (Stony Brook University, New York)
10 August 2018, 16:00 to 18:00
Chandrasekhar Auditorium, ICTS, Bangalore
Have you ever seen how a cat lands on its feet? Even 6 week old kittens seem to be able to do it perfectly from any position. In this lecture we will discuss how cats do it by changing their shape in a particular way. Remarkably, the mathematical structures relevant for “cat landing physics” are...more

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