Rajarshi Roy - Seeing the Light: Optical Illusions, J. C. Bose and Table-Top Experimental Science

Speaker: Rajarshi Roy, Institute for Physical Science and Technology, Department of Physics and Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland

Abstract: The brain and eye function together to provide us information every day that we live. We will take a look at how this partnership works, and how we can learn about both vision and cognitive processing through optical illusions, as well as from the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are invisible to us. J. C. Bose was an experimental scientist who explored microwaves in the 1890s and then went on to investigate the electrophysiology of plants with table-top experimental apparatus designed and constructed with very limited means and a lot of imagination and persistence. We will examine his interdisciplinary endeavors and consider how such interests can be pursued today, beginning as math, science and engineering majors.