About

The FMF Symposium is the largest annual scientific event of the FMF. Each year it revolves around a specific theme, which is based on current events in science. Dutch and international speakers who are renowned in their field present their research in physics, astronomy, mathematics and computing science. The Symposium attracts many bachelor and master students from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, but of course staff members, PhD’s and others are also welcome.

The theme of this year’s symposium will be “Epic Proportions”. Of course, this theme can be quite broadly interpreted. It is natural to think about the physical quantities of large and small. In the world around us, extremely small particles make up our infinitely large universe. An object like a black hole with an extremely large mass can be of a relatively tiny size. It can also be interpreted to be about research done under extreme conditions–research done in the freezing expanse of space or under the pressure of the ocean.

Certain discoveries have also impact the future in epic proportions. When Newton described gravity, he probably did not anticipate it still being widely used and taught hundreds of years later! Euclid’s discovery of divisibility algorithms three thousand years ago formed the basis of modern cryptography and code-breaking. Who knows what current research will last for centuries to come?

Scientific research itself can also be of epic proportions. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN or the James Webb telescope are both truly epic feats of scientific engineering. One of our speakers will talk to you about an epic feat of engineering: the KM3NeT telescope.

We hope to give you a taste of how science and scientific research can be of “epic proportions” in so many different ways!