Monday, April 26, 2010

April 23: Public Lecture and Stargazing

A beautiful clear night encouraged nearly 100 people to venture to Rutherfurd Observatory where we first hear from Prof. David Helfand about reconstructing cosmic history, atom by atom. Dr. Helfand's talk detailed how the nuclei of atoms could be used to track events in prehistory from the changes in our planet's ecosystem to the very origins of the universe. This engaging talk was a condensed version of his popular Teaching Company series of lectures.

After the fantastic lecture, we heard from graduate student Jana Grcevic about the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope. The skies were clear and we got great views of the moon, Mars, Saturn, M13, and other targets that are often difficult to see from Manhattan without the aid of a telescope. All in all, a spectacular evening.

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