For Immediate Release—Thursday, Oct. 4, 2007
Contact:
Tracy Paradis
Milne Library, SUNY Geneseo
(585) 245-5159
paradis@geneseo.edu
Authors to Discuss Cosmology, Meaning and the Future of Space Astronomy During October 18-19 Campus Visit
GENESEO, N.Y.— The community is invited to SUNY Geneseo for stargazing and a multimedia presentation by world-renowned cosmologist Joel Primack and his wife, philosopher and writer Nancy Ellen Abrams on October 19 at 7 pm. The presentation is based their groundbreaking 2006 book, The View From the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos.
Primack and Abrams will visit SUNY Geneseo on October 18-19 to provide educational programming related to Milne Library’s Heavens Above exhibit of images from the Hubble Space Telescope. During their visit, the authors will lead a number of classroom discussions and Dr. Primack will also lead a colloquium on October 18 for the regional scientific community on the future of space astronomy in the U.S.
Friday evening’s events begin at 7 p.m. with the author’s presentation in Newton 202, followed by a reception in Milne Library. Stargazing from the roof of the Integrated Science Center (weather permitting) and guided tours of the Heavens Above exhibit will also be offered.
Primack and Abrams’ lecture will explain the evolution of the Universe and discuss mankind’s place in it, presenting scientific and philosophical viewpoints. They will show spectacular new images and videos, using both updated ancient symbols and the latest astronomical data and simulations. They also use humorous cartoons to illustrate how cosmological ideas have widespread cultural implications. The talk is both entertaining and educational, and it can be enjoyed by everyone from people who know nothing about modern astronomy to experts in the field.
The LA Times has called The View From the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos “one of those truly creative books that crosses disciplines; it synthesizes the information we have so far to evoke a compelling new vision of why we matter in the universe and how we might begin to embrace it again and call it home.” The paperback edition was released last August.
Dr. Primack will lead a colloquium on Thursday, October 18, at 7 p.m. entitled “Restarting the Exploration of the Universe: the National Academy's Beyond Einstein Report and the Future of Space Astronomy.” Primack is a member of the committee formed in 2006 by the National Academy of Sciences to provide Congress with recommendations on how to restart NASA’s 2003 Beyond Einstein program, which was indefinitely postponed when President Bush decided in January 2004 that NASA's highest priority is to put astronauts back on the moon and eventually send them to Mars. The Beyond Einstein program includes ambitious space missions to understand the nature of the dark energy that has been accelerating the expansion of the universe, test general relativity, and discover gravity waves from the mergers of super-massive black holes and from the cosmic inflation that preceded the Big Bang. More information on the Beyond Einstein program can be found at http://universe.nasa.gov/. The National Academy’s report is located at http://books.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12006.
The colloquium will be held in Milne 104 and is intended to draw in scientists, especially astrophysicists and astronomers, from around the region.
Dr. Primack, a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has done foundational research in cosmology and is an originator and developer of Cold Dark Matter, now accepted as the standard theory of the structure and evolution of the universe. He and his team use some of the world's biggest supercomputers to simulate the evolution of the universe, and they compare the results with observational data. He has recently chaired the Forum on Physics and Society of the American Physical Society, as well as the Committee on Science, Ethics, and Religion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He chaired the American Physical Society's 2004 study of the Moon-Mars Program and served on the National Academy's Beyond Einstein study. Among numerous other publications, he coauthored the book Advice and Dissent: Scientists in the Political Arena (1974), which received the APS (American Physical Society) Forum on Physics and Society Award in 1977.
Ms. Abrams is a lawyer, writer and former Fulbright scholar with a long-term interest in the history, philosophy and politics of science. While working on the staff of the U.S. Congress, she co-created a novel method (called Scientific Mediation) by which government agencies can make wise policy decisions in cases involving scientific uncertainty, and she has consulted on this for the Swedish government, several state governments and various corporations. Her articles have appeared in journals, magazines and books. She has also released three albums of her songs and performed in eighteen countries.
For more than a decade, Primack and Abrams have been co-teaching a course at UC Santa Cruz called “Cosmology and Culture,” from which this book developed. See their website (http://viewfromthecenter.com/) for more information on the book, the authors and their work.
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