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(15 October 2014) Physics in the kitchen by Andrey Varlamov, Ph.D

The cycle of lectures of the Institute for Advanced Studies Balkanski-Panitza aims to present to the wide audience leading researchers from Bulgaria and abroad who work in various academic fields (humanitarian and social sciences, science, engineering). Among the lectors are distinct figures from the civil society, means of mass communication and business with respect to the education and science issues in Bulgaria. The lectures aim to bridge the different fields of the scientific knowledge and to contribute to the enrichment of the academic life in Bulgaria in accordance to the mission of the Institute.

What:     Physics in the kitchen by Prof. Andrey Varlamov
When:   15 October 2014, 19:00
Where:  Sofia University Rectorate, lecture hall 224 (hall America for Bulgaria)

How heat propagates in the media, what is the difference between the pizza baking in a traditional wood-burning oven and the electric one, why the flavor of boiled meat and that one made on the grill are so different, how to calculate scientifically the cooking time for the egg alla cocque and spaghetti, why the cin-cin with the crystal glasses filled with champagne or sparkling wine is accompanied by beautiful sound of the crystal, why vodka typically contains 40% of alcohol, why the professional bartenders vary the degree of grounding of the coffee beans depending on the weather? In this seminar we will discuss these and many other questions of the Gastronomic Universe that surrounds us.

Andrey Varlamov was born April, 25, 1954 in Kiev (Ukraine). In 1977 got Master’s degree cum laude at the Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology. In 1980, under supervision of Alex Abrikosov, he was awarded his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics. He worked as a researcher (1981–1985), associate professor (1986–1989), and full professor (1990–1999) of the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Moscow Institute for Steel and Alloys (Technological University). He worked as the invited fellow at the Condensed Matter Theory Group of Argonne National Laboratory, USA (1993). Since 1999 he has been the principal investigator of the Institute of Superconductivity, Innovative Materials, and Devices of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), since 2003 has been the adjunct professor of Rome University “Tor Vergata”.

Andrey Varlamov was awarded the USSR State Prize in Physics for young scientists (1986), the degree of Doctor of Sciences (Habilitatus) in Condensed Matter Physics (1988), and the degree of Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa of Bogolyubov Institute for Theoretical Physics (2011); he is also a member-correspondent of Istituto Lombardo Accademia di Scienze e Lettere (2009). His main fields of scientific interests are: superconductivity, theory of metals, theory of phase transitions, and nanophysics. The author of eight books, five monographic review articles, and more than 130 scientific papers, Andrey is also a member of the Editorial Board of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ popular science magazine “Kvant”. For many years he executed the duties of vice-Editor in Chief of this magazine (1986–1992).

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