Biography
Linda Hirst is Professor of Physics at the University of California, Merced where she has been a faculty member since 2008 after spending three years on the faculty in the Physics Department at Florida State University.
Born in Liverpool in the UK, Dr. Hirst obtained her BSc and PhD in Physics from the University of Manchester and spent time as a postdoctoral researcher in the Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Hirst's research interests cover a variety of topics in soft-condensed matter physics, with particular interests in soft biomaterials and liquid crystals.
Dr. Hirst was awarded the C. Hilsum Medal by the British Liquid Crystal Society for her contributions to liquid crystal science and technology. She is the author of Fundamentals of Soft Matter Science (CRC Press, 2019), and is also an accomplished amateur chocolatier.
Web links
Dr. Hirst’s web site: http://hirstlab.ucmerced.edu/
Instagram: @lindahirst
Presentation
“The Science and Science Fiction of Active Materials”
Among the staples of science fiction like Star Trek and superhero comics like X-Men are shapeshifters — beings that can modify their shape into any form desired. Physicists are now studying systems (many of them taken from biology) that can change their shapes in surprising ways, and are researching ways to control those shapes. In this nontechnical talk Dr. Hirst will discuss her research into this exciting new field of “active matter” and what applications may lie ahead.