UCL's Annual Festival - Public Lectures

Those who enjoyed Dr Francisco Diego's lecture last month may be interested in attending UCL's annual festival. There will be a series of public lectures and Francisco has been in touch to extend the invite to Flamsteed members. For a complete programme of public lectures please visit  http://www.ucl.ac.uk/youruniverse/lectures .

Here is a summary of the events that full details have been provided for:

Public lecture: Seeing in the dark: Finding hidden objects in the Universe

Thursday 10 March, 19:00

Dr Sarah Hutton (UCL Physics & Astronomy)

Location: Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building, UCL

The Universe is a fantastic place, but if we only ever observed it with our eyes we would never see its most amazing phenomena. In this talk I discuss what our galaxy, the Milky Way, looks like in different wavelengths before moving on to discover the exotic entities that can only be observed in the wavelengths that are invisible to our eyes. I finish by showing the current limits of what we can see and what we hope the next generation of telescopes and satellites will reveal to us.

--------------------------------------------

Public lecture: THINK UNIVERSE! Why Bring .Big. Science into Elementary Education?

Friday 11 March, 19:00

Location: Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building, UCL

Dr Francisco Diego (UCL Physics & Astronomy) will talk about the THINK UNIVERSE! project, a one-term integrated science programme to be taught in schools to pupils aged 9-12.

THINK UNIVERSE! deals with the fundamental nature of the visible Universe, from its very simple and still mysterious origin, to the complexity and diversity around us today. We follow the cosmic timeline and explore a metaphorical cosmic forest where vast numbers of trees of diversity accidentally grow and vanish. We face the relevant insignificance of the human existence, that has only started as a tiny twig on one of those trees. A single human family that migrated from central Africa only a few thousand years ago. We meet our destiny, where we must learn to be kind to one another and preserve this fragile and unique paradise planet that we call Earth.

In this lecture, we learn about the development of this project and its major challenges ahead. Audience participation will be important.

(NOTE: Think Universe! has support from the Science and Technology Facilities Council for its essential phase of teacher training).

--------------------------------------------

Public discussion and panel: LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

Saturday 12 March, 17:00 (please note that you will need to register for this event)

Location: Gustave Tuck Lecture Theatre, Wilkins Building, UCL

What is life? How does it start? With over 2,000 confirmed exoplanets, and the probability of billions more in our galaxy alone, is the emergence of life inevitable? And if it is inevitable, then where are the aliens? Join our expert panel and learn about one of the most fascinating challenges to human culture.

Each panelist will introduce a topic for about 15 minutes followed by an open discussion with the audience.