Professor David Tong gives Penrose Biennial Lecture 2024: ‘Maths vs Physics: The Smackdown’

Theoretical physicist Professor David Tong has followed in the footsteps of his ‘hero’ Sir Roger Penrose by giving the 2024 St John’s College Penrose Biennial Lecture, named in honour of the renowned mathematician, physicist and Nobel Laureate.

An audio recording is now available of the lecture, titled Maths vs Physics: The Smackdown, which was presented at St John’s College on 19 November by Professor Tong, who is Professor of Theoretical Physics in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College.

It is the second public lecture in the series named after Sir Roger, who is an Honorary Fellow and alumnus of St John’s. “It’s a huge honour, made all the more so because Roger Penrose has been a hero of mine for many, many decades,” Professor Tong told the audience, after being introduced by Heather Hancock, The Master of St John’s College.

“There was a time when I was in the sixth form, when I only knew the names of two living physicists, and that was Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose.” 

As a 17-year-old, Professor Tong found a copy of Sir Roger's book, The Emperor’s New Mind, in his local branch of WH Smiths and devoured it. “I think of all the popular books I've read, it's possibly the single most inspiring one about theoretical physics,” he added.

Now a leading theoretical physicist himself, Professor Tong has worked on many different aspects of physics, including quantum field theory, general relativity, cosmology, and condensed matter physics. 

In his ‘bold and a bit provocative’ lecture in the spirit of Sir Roger, he talks about how mathematics and physics ‘are inextricably intertwined’ in a beautiful and surprising way – and how that works. He then looks at how mathematicians and physicists view the foundations of their subjects, ‘and how very different they appear to be really almost intentionally with each other’ – and the lessons that can be drawn from that.

Sir Roger gave the inaugural Penrose Biennial Lecture in February 2022. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2020 for work on black holes and he invented twistor theory, a key tool in quantum theory. His mathematical discoveries include a non-periodic form of tiling called Penrose tiling, an example of which can be seen at the entrance to the College’s Library in Chapel Court. 

Listen to the full 2024 Penrose Biennial Lecture 

Published: 22/11/2024

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