GARDEN OF PHYSICS: Episode 1
“The Game of Life”
Guest: Dr Aleksandar Bogojević
In the first episode of the scientific-popular series, ‘The Garden of Physics’, which is aired every Friday online, the first guest, Dr Aleksandar Bogojević, director of the Institute of Physics, Belgrade talks about the principles of the work of the Game of Life. This cellular automaton is devised by the renowned British mathematician John Conway (1937-2020), who passed away during the COVID-19 epidemics.
’It is astounding how many details and complex structures there are in the game with rules which can be explained in two sentences’, says Dr Bogojević and explains how the world of the Game of Life can be diverse and rich. Inevitably, it raises questions about our universe.
’If we take the rules of this game as some kind of a universe, does it contain some completely unimaginable abundance? The answer is yes’, elaborates Dr Bogojević, at the same time asking whether there can be life in it.
Apart from that, what is also interesting is the issue of whether several universes with different sets of fundamental laws can have the same laws on a large scale. ’At the level of our universe, it is difficult to answer, and it will probably remain a philosophical question, however, at the level of these artificial universes, it might be possible to actually classify that ’, Dr Bogojević thinks.
Realized in cooperation with the portal ’Science Through Stories’, each episode of ’The Garden of Physics’ is dedicated to one of the fundamental topics of modern science, whether it is the greatest secrets of our times or research indicating unexpected horizons in the perception of the world. New episodes are aired every Friday online and they are available on webpages of the Institute of Physics, Belgrade and the portal „Science Through Stories“, as well as on You are welcome to join us.
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Authors: Marija Đurić and Slobodan Bubnjević
Scenario: ’Science Through Stories’
Camera/drone: Zoran Veljanoski, Bojan Živojinović (Twotech Solutions)
Production associate: Jovana Nikolić
Directing and editing: Bojan Živojinović
Produced by: Insitute of Physics, Belgrade, 2020