Sune Lehmann: Intermittent Updates

Dirk Brockmann Visit

Misc

Next week, we’re very lucky to have Dirk Brockmann visiting the lab.  If you’re anywhere near Copenhagen there’s no excuse not to come and see him. He’s a world class scientist (see below) and in addition to mind-expanding content,  his talks often feature subtle humor, as well as legendary slideshows.

  • Date: Thursday, February 27th
  • Time: 13:30 - 14:30
  • Location: Technical University of Denmark, Building 324, Room 040 [if you’re traveling from Copenhagen, I recommend Bus 150S]
  • Title: The hidden geometry of complex, network driven contagion phenomena
  • Abstract: See below.

Dirk is theoretical physicist turned world expert in spreading patterns of contagious disease. His recent Science paper The hidden geometry of complex, network-driven contagion phenomena[Science 342, 1337 (2013)] shows that it’s possible to replace geographic distance by a probabilistically motivated effective distance which reveals a hidden geometry where disease arrival times can be accurately predicted. Screenshot 2014-02-21 12.18.09 He’s also done interesting work on human travel patterns based on how money travels, Scaling laws of human travel [Nature 439, 462-465 (2006)] Screenshot 2014-02-21 12.22.22 Finally Dirk’s work has been used to fight crime on the US hit TV series NUMB3RS - check out the action packed clip below. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/153071/numbers.mp4 Dirk is a professor at Humboldt University (recently returned from Northwestern University).