Opening event wall formulas Snellius and Lorentz
On Thursday 3 November Leiden University will celebrate the official opening of two wall formulas in the city centre. As of now, Snell’s law and the Lorentz force formula shine on two walls in the heart of Leiden. They are part of a project to display at least ten groundbreaking formulas with a Leiden origin.
Wall poems
Pedestrians in Leiden city centre often catch sight of a poem painted in giant letters on a wall. This poetry is mostly written in a foreign language that few Leiden citizens understand. Still, this doesn’t pose a problem. We see the beauty in a verse without exactly knowing what it says. We feel it is art, we read the name and the time in which the poet lived and play the story in our heads.
Formulas
Physicists Sense Jan van der Molen and Ivo van Vulpen realized that this principle goes just as much for physics formulas. Not everyone understands all mathematical symbols or gets the meaning of the letters, but we do feel the intrinsic beauty of the formula as a whole. A universal law, remaining undiscovered for billions of years, is now embodied in a short, simple line. A complex natural phenomenon, like the refraction of light in a glass of water, lies wonderfully captured in only a few symbols.
History
Leiden has a particularly grand history in physical discoveries. That is what inspired Van der Molen and Van Vulpen to set up a project together with Stichting Tegenbeeld to paint formulas originating in Leiden on walls in its historic centre. They assembled a collection of over ten groundbreaking formulas, all with a Leiden connection. The first formula was painted last year on Museum Boerhaave: the Einstein field equation.
Lorentz
Now, the second and third wall formulas have also been realized. People can admire the formula for the Lorentz force from Hendrik Lorentz’ old residence on the Hooigracht and Snell’s law of refraction is flaunted further down the same street. On Thursday 3 November we will celebrate the official opening with a festive event in the Kamerlingh Onnes building in Leiden. Everyone is welcome.
Details
Lorentz room (A1.44), Kamerlingh Onnes building, Steenschuur 25, Leiden
15:00 Walk-in (coffee)
15:15 Introduction (Sense Jan v/d Molen & Ivo van Vulpen)
15:20 Snellius (Eric Eliel, LION)
15:30 Lorentz (Carlo Beenakker, Instituut Lorentz)
15:45 Walking tour wall formulas
16:15 Drinks in Eetcafé de Hooykist
