Dr. H. Eugene Stanley
William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor;
Director, Center for Polymer Studies;
Professor of Physics, Chemistry, Biomedical
Engineering, and Physiology (School of Medicine)
Boston University

Lecture Abstract:
Dr. H. Eugene Stanley will introduce some of the 73 documented anomalies of the most complex of liquids, water—focusing on recent progress in understanding these anomalies by combining information provided by recent experiments and simulations on water designed to test the hypothesis that liquid water has behavior consistent with the novel phenomenon of “liquid polymorphism” in that water can exist in two distinct phases. He will also discuss very recent work on nanoconfined water anomalies as well as the apparently related, and highly unusual, behavior of water in biological environments. Finally, Dr. Stanley will discuss how the general concept of liquid polymorphism is proving useful in understanding anomalies in other liquids, such as silicon and silica, as well as metallic glasses, which have in common that they are characterized by two characteristic length scales in their interactions.