Prof. Sriram Ramaswamy
Centre for Condensed Matter Theory Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science

Scientists have always been fascinated by the spontaneous appearance of
order in collections of a large number of molecules. Examples familiar
from the physics of closed systems, i.e., at a fixed energy or
temperature, include crystals, magnets, and liquid crystals. My talk,
however, will focus on order in living matter, including schools of
fish, flocks of birds, collectively swimming bacteria, and the organised
filaments of the cytoskeleton. I will try to summarize recent progress
in our understanding of these systems, and discuss the ways in which
self-propelling behaviour can be imitated in surprisingly simple
nonliving analogue systems.