Author: TEDx Talks
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Tom Weiler was born in St. Louis, grew up(wards) in the Black Hills of South Dakota, matured a bit more in Lincoln, Nebraska, and graduated from HS in Milwaukee, WI. He has a B.S. degree in physics from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from U. Wisconsin in high-energy particle theory. Vowing never to be so cold again, he left the Northern US for England, Boston, California, and joined the faculty at Vanderbilt in 1984. In the Spring 2012 semester, he will teach a course titled "Meaning of Time, Possibility of Time Travel". Starting in the early 80s, he was among the pioneers in applying modern particle theory to astrophysics and cosmology. He has over a hundred refereed, published papers, on topics ranging from neutrino astrophysics to dark matter to faster-than-light particle travel. He is also a member of the international EUSO collaboration, with intent to place a downward-looking telescope on the Space Station to monitor extreme-energy cosmic rays when they strike enter our atmosphere. His awards include "Fellow of the American Physics Society", "Outstanding Wisconsin Physics Alumnus", and "Alexander Von Humboldt Senior Researcher Award". In 2009 he had the good fortune as a visitor to the Max Planck Institut in Munich, to be assigned to an office once held by Werner Heisenberg, famous for his co-invention of quantum mechanics. The empty chair in the attached photo was Heisenberg's chair. In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations).