The opening chord to “A Hard Day’s Night” is famous because, for 40 years, no one knew exactly what chord George Harrison was playing. It took mathematician Jason Brown, professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Dalhousie University, to figure out the exact notes and instrumentation using a formula called Fourier transform.

Brown is currently using math to determine which Beatle really wrote “In My Life.” Both Paul McCartney and John Lennon claimed authorship, and Brown aims to use mathematics to prove which musician actually composed the song.

Brown will take a break from this research to present “The Mathematics behind the Music” on Monday, Feb. 8 in Ming Hsieh Hall, room G21.

“Brown’s work really shows that mathematics and music are truly universal languages,” said Eddie Fuller, chair of the WVU mathematics department.

“He makes math accessible and fun for people of all ages and walks of life,” Fuller added.

Brown’s work on more than 60 research articles and his book, “Our Days Are Numbered,” has garnered him media attention on both a national and international stage in such well-known media outlets as CBC, BBC, Guitar Player Magazine, NPR radio and the websites of Wired and the Wall Street Journal.

In his lecture, he will be discussing different types of mathematical techniques that are relevant to musicians. This includes derivation of the blues and graph colorings, the musical art of being ambiguous (or not), and musical and mathematical transformations among others.

“The ancient Greeks elevated both [mathematics and music] to the same level,” said Brown. “And even the most unschooled rock musician uses more mathematics than he or she realizes.”

For more information, contact Eddie Fuller, chair of the mathematics department, at 304-293-2011×2322 or via e-mail at ef@math.wvu.edu.

From WVU Today

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Monday, October 12, 2009 at 7:30 pm in the Mountainlair Blue Ballroom.

You are invited to the 2009 Eberly College Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, in association with the Division of Sociology and Anthropology, on Monday, October 12, 2009. Dr. Jonathan Marks, professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, will be delivering a presentation entitled Darwin’s Ventriloquists, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Blue Ballroom. There will be a reception held afterwards in the Gold Ballroom.

This event is intended as a counterpoint to last spring’s lecture by J. Philippe Rushton.

Human evolution expert Jonathan Marks, Ph.D., professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, believes today’s training of modern scientists commonly shields them from the history and politics of their work, forcing generations of evolutionary geneticists to rediscover the intimate connection between science and culture.

“What we learn from the social study of evolutionary theory is that the natural and the cultural invariably co-produce the scientific,” said Marks. “Scientific claims, however, are made with a voice of cultural authority about human diversity that are especially sensitive to cultural influences.”

He argues the biggest challenge to contemporary evolutionary theory comes not from creationists, but from biologists themselves, and thinks that evolutionary biology cannot afford to tolerate scientific racism, which is the act of justifying social inequalities between presumptively natural groups of people by recourse to science.

He is author of “Human Biodiversity” (Aldine/Transaction, 1995), and “What It Means to Be 98% Chimpanzee” (University of California Press, 2002), which received the W.W. Howells Prize in Biological Anthropology from the American Anthropological Association and the J.I. Staley Prize from the School of Advanced Research. His new book, “Why I Am Not a Scientist,” was recently published by the University of California Press.

More information available in the press release.

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September 23, 2009   7:30 pm-10:30 pm

260 Hodges Hall, WVU Campus.

That should be fun!

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Matters of Gravity: Einstein’s Theories of Relativity (August 26, 2009 @ 7:30 PM – 10:30 PM)

http://calendar.wvu.edu/index.php?eventid=56296&month=Jun2009

This event will be held at/in: 260 Hodges Hall. Lecture will be given by Duncan Lorimer, assistant professor of physics, WVU.
Location : 260 Hodges Hall, WVU Campus

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