Cockcroft Rutherford Lecture 2010 Part 2 / 6

Monday, 12 April 2010
Time: 5pm - 7.45pm
Venue: The University of Manchester
Speaker: Lord Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society, Master of Trinity College and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, University of Cambridge.

Our Cosmic Enviornment - Atoms, Galaxies and Life

Astronomers have made astonishing progress in probing our cosmic environment, thanks to advanced technology. We can trace cosmic history from some mysterious 'beginning' nearly 14 billion years ago, and understand in outline the emergence of atoms, galaxies, stars and planets and how, on at least one planet, life emerged and developed a complex biosphere of which we are part. But these advances pose new questions: What does the future hold? How widespread is life in our cosmos? and Is physical reality even more extensive than the domain that our telescopes can probe? This illustrated lecture will attempt to address such issues.

Lord Rees was appointed Astronomer Royal in 1995. In 2005 he was appointed to the House of Lords and became President of the Royal Society in the same year. Master of Trinity College and Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge, Lord Rees has worked and travelled extensively overseas and has been a Visiting Professor at many universities including Harvard, Berkeley and Kyoto. He has also served on many bodies connected with education, space research, arms control and international collaboration in science. Lord Rees is the author or co-author of over 500 research papers and seven books, a number of which are for general readership, and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. His awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Einstein Award of the World Cultural Council.

Category:

Education

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• educational