IOP Pritzker Fellow Yangyang Cheng on "Going Critical"

THIS SEMINAR IS OPEN TO CURRENT UCHICAGO STUDENTS ONLY

Wednesday, November 12

12:30-1:45pm

On December 2, 1942, the world’s first nuclear reactor went critical on the University of Chicago campus, where the nuclear chain reaction became self-sustained. These days, the word “critical” frequents headlines and policy documents, describing everything from infrastructure to rare earth minerals. What makes a technology or substance critical? Should the government restrict the exchange of products deemed “critical,” and how? Are these controls contradictory to the ethos of the free market, and whose interests are advanced or curtailed in the process? The concluding seminar will critically examine the policies that govern the transnational movement of goods and ideas, as well as their popular perception, and encourage everyone to think critically about the language of and logic behind such regulations. Knowledge flows across borders have always been conditional; the question is under whose conditions and to what end. 

Pritzker Fellows seminars are off the record and open to current UChicago students only. Seating in the IOP Living Room is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

If you have any questions about accessibility, please contact Ella Kumano-Maloney (ikmaloney@uchicago.edu).