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The Joy and Beauty of Scientific Discovery | C. Michael Lindsay | TEDxNiceville

126 views · Published 3 May 2016 · 15:57 · Indexed 21 September 2026

Channel: TEDx Talks · 2016 · Nonprofits & Activism

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The stories we tell each other are full of men on a quest: Galahad and the Holy Grail, High King Peter and the white stag.  In most cases, the object of the quest is worthy in itself.  But the quest is noble as well.  Are they more than legends?  Are there still quests to be pursued?  
Dr. Lindsay asserts that the quest for discovering patterns, symmetry, and relationships in the physical world makes scientific research so fascinating

Mike Lindsay is a technical advisor to over 50 researchers in the U.S.Air Force Research Laboratory ... but it is the nurturing of our young, future scientists that is his real passion.  
Mike Lindsay majored in both studio art and chemistry as a college freshman.  Although he quickly focused his education in the hard sciences, but always managed to find time to express his artistic side as a hobby.

In his endeavors as a research physical chemist, Mike publishes on a wide range of phenomena including ball lightening, anti-matter, superfluid droplets, quantum solids, nanoclusters, energetic materials, and plasmas.  In spite of the diversity of the topics he publishes on, he finds it remarkable how often those lessons in the arts apply to the nature of the physical world around us through relationships and interactions between the things and the patterns and symmetry they exhibit. 

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

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