New speaker added for Celebrating Einstein lecture series

Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World

A talk by Lisa Randall, Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University

Friday, March 1st, 7:30pm, Crawford Theatre, Emerson Cultural Center, this event is free and open to the public.

The bestselling author of Warped Passages, one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World,” and one of Esquire’s “75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century,” Lisa Randall gives us an exhilarating overview of the latest ideas in physics and offers a rousing defense of the role of science in our lives. Featuring fascinating insights into our scientific future born from the author’s provocative conversations with Nate Silver, David Chang, and Scott Derrickson,Knocking on Heaven’s Door is eminently readable, one of the most important popular science books of this or any year. It is a necessary volume for all who admire the work of Stephen Hawking, Michio Kaku, Brian Greene, Simon Singh, and Carl Sagan; for anyone curious about the workings and aims of the Large Hadron Collider, the biggest and most expensive machine ever built by mankind; for those who firmly believe in the importance of science and rational thought; and for anyone interested in how the Universe began…and how it might ultimately end.

Lisa is a leading expert on particle physics and cosmology, and in particular, the possible role of extra dimensions of space.
She was the first tenured woman in the Princeton University physics department and the first tenured female theoretical physicist at both MIT and Harvard University. Lisa is the author of two best selling books, ” Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe’s Hidden Dimensions” and “Knocking on Heaven’s Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World”. Both books have received stellar reviews, including the following review by President Clinton “Lisa Randall has written Knocking on Heaven’s Door in the same witty, informal style with which she explains physics in person, making complex ideas fascinating and easy to understand. Her book . . . just might make you think differently—and encourage you to make smarter decisions about the world.”

For more info on MSU’s Celebrating Einstein, visit: http://www.einstein.montana.edu/

Celebrating Einstein

The Southwest Montana Astronomical Society presents Celebrating Einstein for the 2013 Winter Lecture Series.  

NEW lecture added:  Friday March 1st at the Emerson starting at 7:00 p.m.  NOTE DIFFERENT LOCATION FROM USUAL

Join us this Friday February 22nd at the Museum of the Rockies starting  at 7:00 p.m.

A Shout through Space and Time: Einstein’s Legacy Join MSU Assistant Professor Nico Yunes as he describes Einstein’s gravitational waves and how they encode the secrets of black holes – as well as, neutron stars and our current efforts to detect them and verify Einstein’s last untested prediction. Yunes is one of the newest members of he MSU physics department and was an Einstein Fellow at MIT before coming to Montana.

This event is open to the public and free.

For more info on MSU’s Celebrating Einstein, visit: http://www.einstein.montana.edu/

February 2013 Winter Lecture Series

A Shout through Space and Time: Einstein’s Legacy 
Friday, February 22, 7pm Hager Auditorium

In 1905 and then again in 1915, a young office clerk put forth several revolutionary ideas that would soon shake the foundations of physics.  Albert Einstein elevated these ideas to physical theories and all of his predictions have come to pass, except one: gravitational waves. These waves are produced in the most violent and energetic events in the Universe, such as when black holes and neutron stars collide, but they have so-far evaded direct detection due to their inherent feebleness. Join MSU Assistant Professor Nico Yunes as he describes Einstein’s gravitational waves and how they encode the secrets of black holes – as well as, neutron stars and our current efforts to detect them and verify Einstein’s last untested prediction. Yunes is one of the newest members of he MSU physics department and was an Einstein Fellow at MIT before coming to Montana.

Help name Pluto’s new Moons

From SETI:   Help Us Name the Moons of Pluto!

Science Fun Night

The Stars Still Talk to Us…
Next Tuesday, I will attempt to share some fun of the astronomical sky-connections of the Big Horn Medicine Wheel with families at the public library.  Please come! and share this with your friends.  –Ivy

Family Science Night: Star Wheels  at the Bozeman Public Library on February 19,2013  6:30- 7:30 pm

Free and open to the public

In this family science workshop, we will create our own astronomical medicine wheels, patterned after the Big Horn Medicine Wheel that resides at nearly 10,000 ft elevation in the Big Horn Mountains just south of the Montana border.  The Big Horn Medicine Wheel, whose glowing white rocks under starlight and moonlight,  are able to convey the actions of celestial objects throughout vast expanses of time and space.  We will create smaller wheels that can be useful in connecting our own home to the Sun, stars and planets, bringing increased delight and meaning to our evening skywatching. Family members may make individual wheels or work on one together. All ages welcome.