The Physics of Music

Lessons Learned from the 1918 Influenza and COVID-19 Pandemics

Humans have an amazing, yet under-appreciated, ability to identify and distinguish sounds. We can recognize who is speaking on a zoom call, even when their video is turned off; we can pick up on the nuances of speech, unconsciously recognizing the gender, geographic origin, and the emotional state of the speaker; we can hear the difference between a flute and a french horn.

How is it that sounds can be so similar, yet so different? Why do some sounds have a definite pitch (that you can hum along to), while others are messy, noisy, and hard to describe? What exactly is sound, anyway? Dr. Piacsek will address these questions by telling the story of how musical instruments make their sounds, and what they have in common with the human voice. With live and pre-recorded demonstrations, he'll analyze the components of sound, explore the connection between vibrations and sound, and show how size and shape affect sound.

Are we living through unprecedented times? Perhaps so, but pandemics of the past have much in common with today’s experiences. There are amazing similarities between the 1918 Influenza and the COVID-19 pandemics, and we can apply lessons learned from 1918 and 2019 to future pandemics and responses.

This presentation will compare and contrast these century events from several perspectives such as the disease, epidemiology, prevention and control responses at a global level. Additional focus will be on U.S. education, vaccine hesitancy and the COVID-19 vaccine, social media and disinformation, the need for continued SARS-CoV-2 research, and leadership by experts and government authorities involved in coordinating COVID-19 control measures and disseminating up-to-date, transparent and accurate information as it unfolds through science.

Register here

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