In the second of the RV Jones Distinguished Lecture Series, a leading expert in the field of control engineering and dynamics examines some fascinating examples of synchronised systems that we encounter in our daily life.
In 1665 the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens observed the coupled behaviour of two separate pendulum clocks hanging on the same wall. This ‘sympathy’ of clocks, as he called it, is based on the dynamics of a coupled system, and is fundamental to many areas in science, nature, biology and engineering.
In the second of a new series of public lectures, a leading expert in the field of control engineering and dynamics, Professor Henk Nijmeijer of Eindhoven University of Technology, examines some fascinating examples of such synchronised systems that we encounter in our daily life.
The RV Jones Distinguished Lecture Series is organised by the University of Aberdeen’s School of Engineering and commemorates Reginald Victor Jones, one of the University’s most distinguished professors in applied physics and engineering, who played a key role in the defence of Britain during World War II.
Professor Nijmeijer’s lecture - entitled The Sympathy of Pendulum Clocks and Beyond- takes place on Wednesday April 20 at 6pm in the University of Aberdeen’s King’s College Conference Centre in Old Aberdeen.
Networks to be examined by Professor Nijmeijer will include those as diverse as brain function and traffic behaviour. He will also explore how controlled synchronised motion is used in engineering systems, such as robotics and cars.
Professor Tom O’Donoghue, Head of the University’s School of Engineering said: “I am delighted to welcome Professor Nijmeijer to Aberdeen. Our aim with the RV Jones Distinguished Lecture Series is to bring to Aberdeen outstanding engineers whose work resonates with current research within the School of Engineering at the University.”
Henk Nijmeijer has MSc and PhD degrees in mathematics from the University of Groningen, Netherlands, and subsequently worked at the University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. Since 2000, he has been a professor at Eindhoven, and chairs the Dynamics and Control Group. Professor Nijmeijer has published numerous journal and conference papers, and several books, including the ‘classical’ Nonlinear Dynamical Control Systems (Springer, 1990, co-author A.J.van der Schaft).
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