Slover Library Foundation has teamed up with ODU for a quarterly "Science Cafe!" Come hear from Physics Prof. Lawrence Weinstein, Old Dominion University, explain Guesstimation in a way that everyone can understand.
We will have complimentary snacks and kid-friendly drinks during the talk. We will also have a cash bar with beer and wine for those 21 and up starting at 5:30 PM and open through the talk. Guesstimation: Solving the World's Problems on the Back of a Cocktail Napkin. Bring the whole family!
Why don't we all drive electric cars? Does it really matter if you don't recycle that plastic water bottle? If the Sun were made of gerbils, would the Earth be incinerated? How can we answer these questions without relying on experts? This talk will cover the principles of estimating, introduce the "Goldilocks" categories of answers, and then look at some of the big (and small) questions of our time, including: Paper or plastic? Gasoline or electric cars? Should we pee before flying?
Parking: MacArthur Mall South Lot or Main Street Garage
Alternate: Ride the TIDE or the FRED
Lawrence Weinstein is the author of "Guesstimation: Solving the world's problems on the back of a cocktail napkin" (with John Adam) and "Guesstimation 2.0: Solving today's problems on the back of a napkin" (soon to be a major motion picture), both published by Princeton University Press. Guesstimation has been featured in the New York Times and translated into several other languages. He also edits the monthly Fermi Problems column for the journal "The Physics Teacher". Weinstein is Eminent Scholar and University Professor of Physics at Old Dominion University. He received the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award in 2009. In his spare time, he smashes atoms at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility for which he was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society.