The Science of Surnames · 21-09-2016 · The Science of Surnames First SISSA colloquium of the...
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The Science of Surnames First SISSA colloquium of the seasion with Paolo Rossi (University of Pisa) 21 September 2016, 3:00pm SISSA, Aula Magna Via Bonomea 265 Paolo Rossi, Physicist at the University of Pisa, whose eclectic interests range from particle physics to translating early medieval texts, will be the first speaker in this season’s SISSA colloquium series. His talk will focus on the study of surnames through statistical mechanics, a useful approach for investigating population genetics. What does distribution of surnames have to do with research in human biology and statistical mechanics? It may seem strange, but scientists have been studying surnames to understand
Transcript of The Science of Surnames · 21-09-2016 · The Science of Surnames First SISSA colloquium of the...
TheScienceofSurnames
FirstSISSAcolloquiumoftheseasionwithPaoloRossi(UniversityofPisa)
21September2016,3:00pmSISSA,AulaMagnaViaBonomea265
PaoloRossi,PhysicistattheUniversityofPisa,whoseeclecticinterestsrangefromparticlephysicstotranslatingearlymedievaltexts,willbethefirstspeakerinthisseason’sSISSAcolloquiumseries.Histalkwillfocusonthestudyofsurnamesthroughstatisticalmechanics,ausefulapproachforinvestigatingpopulationgenetics.
Whatdoesdistributionofsurnameshavetodowithresearchinhumanbiologyandstatisticalmechanics?Itmayseemstrange,butscientistshavebeenstudyingsurnamestounderstand
variousaspectsofpopulationgeneticsforcenturies."Itstartedin1875withthepioneeringworkofGeorgeDarwin,Charles’son,whichstudiedmarriagesbetweenfirstcousinswithisonymy(thesamelastname),and,inmorerecenttimes,theanalysisofKingEdwardIIIofEngland’sfamilytreeusingstatisticalmethodsandnumericalsimulation,andtheuseofmoregeneralmodelsforevaluatingsurnamesinagivencountry(KoreaandJapan,forexample),"explainsPaoloRossi,PhysicistattheUniversityofPisa.OnSeptember21,Rossiwillholdthefirsttalkofthe2016-2017seasonoftheSISSAColloquiaseries.Hewillspeakaboutthestudyofsurnamesusingtoolsofstatisticalmechanics.ThetitleofhisspeechisSurnamedistributionandgenealogicaltreesinpopulationgeneticsandinstatisticalphysics."Thedynamicoriginofsurnamedistributionisrelatedtothestatisticalpropertiesoffamilytrees.Wecanstudythedistributionofsurnamesusingstatisticalmechanics,andthusenhanceourunderstandingofthehumanfamilytree."Surnamesbehavealittlelikeneutralgenesthat,whilepartofthegeneticmakeup,donotencodeandarethereforenotsubjecttonaturalselection."Thatiswhytheyaresointeresting,"saysRossi."Theyonlyfollowthelawsofstatistics."“Thisapproach,continuesRossi,“producesaseriesofilluminatingtheoreticalresults.Someofthesehypothesesmayalsobetestedusingempiricaldatawhichisalreadyavailable.ThetalkbyPaoloRossi,tobeheldinEnglish,willtakeplaceintheAulaMagnaoftheSchoolonSeptember21startingat3pm.Itisfreeandopentothepublic.BriefBiographyPaoloRossiisascientistofinternationalcaliberknownforhisconsiderableandvariedinterestsinresearch.DeanoftheFacultyofMathematical,PhysicalandNaturalSciencesattheUniversityofPisa,heisalsoamemberoftheNationalUniversityCouncil(CUN).PastinternationalexperiencesincludeperiodsofworkatMITinBostonandCERNinGeneva,wherehestudiedParticlePhysicsandStatisticalFieldTheory.Hehasauthoredover100scientificarticlesininternationalpeer-reviewedjournalsaswellastextbooksonClassicalandQuantumPhysics.HismostrecentresearchfocusesonapplyingPhysicsmethodsandtheoreticalideastothestudyandmodelingofsocialandculturalphenomenaincludingacademicrecruitmentprocesses.RossiisalsointerestedinthehistoryofscienceandtranslatesItalianearlymedievalchroniclesfromLatintoItalian.Hehaspublishedhistoricalnovelsaswell.
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