What causes the revolutionary, history-changing sound of rock guitar, and how does it help us understand the nature of the universe? Come to Cafe Scientifique on 11 May at 5.00 pm at Kloostri Ait in Tallinn to hear Mark Lewney explain the physics of rock using riffs from Vivaldi to Queen and the theme from Bullseye. He tells you the secret of the Stradivarius, and shows how string vibrations might lie at the heart of the answers to Big Questions about the Big Bang and the dimensions of the universe.

In this entertaining and mind-expanding lecture, acoustics expert Dr. Lewney explains sound and vibrations with the help of props as diverse as an air-bazooka, a bullwhip and his custom Ibanez electric guitar through a 100W Marshall amp, turned up loud. You can find out how to make your own sonic boom, whether there really is a ‘secret’ to fabulously expensive antique violins, and how holograms allow us to ‘see’ the sound of a guitar. Then, after a whirlwind tour of the science of rock music, Lewney's introduction to ‘Superstring theory’ shows how the vibrations of guitar strings can be applied to the stuff we’re all made of, but with a twist: the strings vibrate in extra dimensions!

Mark Lewney, 32 from Liverpool, studied physics at Edinburgh University before gaining a PhD in acoustics from Cardiff University. He works at the UK Patent Office dealing with new inventions in telecommunications, and pursues anthropological research in his spare time by playing rock guitar in Welsh pubs. In 2005 he entered a Pop-Idol-for-scientists competition called FameLab “for a laugh” and, by talking about Newton’s law and a bag of chips, the entire universe via the gift of balloon-craft, giant nuclear frying pan spaceships and the physics of rock guitar, went and won the bastard. He has featured as a guitar expert on Radio 4’s Material World, in a British Council DVD for 48 countries called Beautiful Physics, as “the Rock Doctor” on CBBC’s Xchange, and will soon appear in his own “3 minute wonder” slot on Channel 4.  “Science is about drawing a map which explains our existence” he says. “Without it, we’re as lost and uncertain as a caveman in a thunderstorm.” Having recently become a father, he now smells faintly of wet-wipes and poo.