If you’ve ever noticed that time seems to move more quickly the older you are, you’ve caught a glimpse of one of the effects of what Adrian Bejan calls the “Constructal Law.” Bejan is noted for having described the law, one which he believes to be a “first principle” of physics and describes how systems of energy persist throughout time. Bejan has identified data which suggests that time perception depends on the way our eyes and brain send and perceive images — at first very quickly, and then more slowly as we age, giving the impression that time itself moves more rapidly when we get older. Adrian Bejan received the Benjamin Franklin Medal for “Thermodynamics and constructal theory, which predicts natural design and its evolution in engineering, scientific, and social systems.” All his degrees are from MIT. At Duke University he is the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor. He authored 30 books and 650 peer-refereed journal articles, and was awarded 18 honorary doctorates from universities in 11 countries. His latest book is The Physics of Life (St. Martin’s Press 2016), and his most recent work focuses on how the human mind perceives time.
