Suzie Sheehy: The case for curiosity-driven research
סוזי שיהי: הטיעון בעד מחקר שמונע על ידי סקרנות
Dr. Suzie Sheehy uses accelerator physics to help reinvent technology for applications in medicine, energy and beyond. Full bio
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scientists were trying to solve a mystery.
a vacuum tube like this one
What were they made of?
ממה הן עשויות?
physicist, J.J. Thompson,
ג'יי ג'יי תומפסון,
magnets and electricity, like this.
of negatively charged particles
מחלקיקים בעלי מטען שלילי
than the hydrogen atom,
the first subatomic particle,
החלקיק התת-אטומי הראשון,
a completely impractical discovery.
תגלית ממש לא פרקטית.
there were any applications of electrons.
שיש איזה שימוש לאלקטרונים.
he used to like to propose a toast:
הוא נהג להרים כוסית:
out of sheer curiosity,
understanding of the world.
did cause a revolution in science.
unexpected revolution in technology.
בלתי צפויה, בטכנולוגיה.
for curiosity-driven research,
המונע על ידי סקרנות,
I'll talk about today
has actually changed our view of reality.
שינה את תפיסת המציאות שלנו.
the electrons in the seat,
was actually built on this discovery.
למעשה נבנתה על בסיס התגלית הזו.
were the start of electronics.
ההתחלה של האלקטרוניקה.
if you remember, in your living room,
בסלון שלנו,
would our lives be
כמה דלים היו החיים שלנו
from here was the television?
היתה הטלויזיה?
when the electrons here
screech to a halt inside the metal,
which we call X-rays.
להן אנחנו קוראים קרני רנטגן.
of discovering the electron,
to make images inside the human body,
הדמיות של תוך הגוף האנושי,
being saved by surgeons,
ניצלו על ידי מנתחים,
and shrapnel inside their bodies.
ורסיסים בתוך הגוף שלהם.
come up with that technology
את הטכנולוגיה הזאת
better surgical probes.
עזרים טובים יותר לניתוחים.
with no application in mind,
מבלי שום מטרת יישומית,
of the electron and X-rays.
האלקטרון וקרני הרנטגן.
for our understanding of the universe
להבנה שלנו את היקום
very simple particle accelerator.
אם כי אחד בסיסי מאוד.
so I design particle accelerators,
אז אני בונה מאיצי חלקיקים,
curiosity-driven research
real-world applications.
of those two things
about what I do.
for me to list them all.
מכדי שאוכל לפרט את כולן.
found something strange in his equations.
מצא משהו מוזר במשוואות שלו.
on mathematical insight,
אך ורק על תובנה מתמטית,
a second kind of matter,
when it comes in contact:
every day in hospitals,
בכל יום בבתי חולים,
or PET scans, used for detecting disease.
או סריקת PET, כדי לזהות מחלות.
up to a higher energy,
לרמת אנרגיה גבוהה יותר,
that this tube,
ionizing radiation to kill human cells.
על מנת להרוג תאים אנושיים.
those X-rays where you want them to go,
את הקרניים האלה לנקודה מסוימת,
are treated using radiotherapy.
באמצעות טיפולי הקרנות.
are actually standard equipment
both with you right now, right?
כך שיש לכם את שניהם כאן אתכם, נכון?
by implanting single ions into silicon,
שותלים יונים בודדים על סיליקון,
to explore inside the atom.
למדנו לחקור את המבנה הפנימי של האטום.
to develop particle accelerators.
לפתח מאיצי חלקיקים.
let us split the atom.
and higher energies;
that let us delve into the nucleus
לצלול לתוך הגרעין
just exploring inside the atom.
how to control these particles.
with our world
for humans to see or touch
או לגעת בידיים
and larger accelerators,
about the nature of the universe.
new particles started popping up.
חלקיקים חדשים צצו ועלו.
ring-like machines
בצורת טבעת
in opposite directions,
בכיוונים שונים,
to less than the width of a hair
and convert it into new matter,
ולהפוך אותה לחומר חדש,
from the very fabric of the universe.
מאריג היקום עצמו.
about 35,000 accelerators in the world,
incredible machines,
of tiny particles,
that are more complex
שהינן יותר מורכבות
how incredible it is
להתחיל להסביר כמה זה מדהים
to invest your time and energy
את הזמן והאנרגיה שלכם
curiosity-driven research.
of seeing the invisible."
J.J. Thompson did just that,
ג'יי ג'יי תומפסון עשה בדיוק את זה,
on the subatomic world.
את העולם התת-אטומי.
in curiosity-driven research,
במחקר מונע סקרנות,
challenges that we face.
אתגרים שעומדים לפתחנו.
the space and the means
המרחב והאמצעים
curious and open-minded
our discoveries will be.
לשינוי העולם.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Suzie Sheehy - PhysicistDr. Suzie Sheehy uses accelerator physics to help reinvent technology for applications in medicine, energy and beyond.
Why you should listen
Dr. Suzie Sheehy designs particle accelerators. She's fascinated by using accelerator physics to help us reinvent technology for applications in areas such as medicine and energy. Her research projects have ranged from the design of new cancer treatment accelerators to building a scaled-down experiment that models particle beams -- answering fundamental questions about the physics of beams that are beyond reach of computer simulations.
Sheehy is currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, where she also teaches graduate-level accelerator physics. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Melbourne in her native Australia (BSc Hons 2006) and DPhil at the University of Oxford in the John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science (2010). She has held fellowships from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 (Brunel fellow 2010-2013) as well as her current Royal Society Fellowship.
Alongside her research, Sheehy is a prolific public speaker, presenter and science communicator, for which she has received a number of awards including the British Science Association Lord Kelvin Award, Institute of Physics HEPP Group Science in Society Award and the University of Oxford Vice Chancellors Civic Award. She is an expert TV presenter for Impossible Engineering on Discovery Channel and has cowritten and delivered live headline shows for tens of thousands of students at the Big Bang Fair alongside well known BBC TV presenters. She regularly presents public and schools lectures around the UK and further afield at major science festivals and venues like the Royal Institution.
Suzie Sheehy | Speaker | TED.com