The New Universe and the Human Future
Modern cosmology?the study of the universe as a whole?tells us that everything we can see, all the stars and glowing gas clouds in galaxies, are only half of one percent of what is actually out there. Most of the universe is made of invisible "dark matter" holding all galaxies together and "dark energy" making the universe expand faster. Cosmological observations, such as the recent news on cosmic inflation, are revealing how the universe evolved and how it operates on all size scales, including our own. A meaningful science-based cosmology could turn out to be practical knowledge that helps us make sense of the global threats and opportunities of our time. This lecture includes beautiful videos based on observations and supercomputer simulations, and it discusses the connections between the new scientific cosmology and our human future.
Nancy Ellen Abrams is a writer with a B.A. in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Chicago, a law degree from the University of Michigan, and a diploma in Mexican law and international trade from the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico City. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Rome and a Woodrow Wilson Designate. Nancy has been active in bringing science into the shaping of a new politics and served on the staff of the science advisory office of the U.S. Congress. She has also focused on science?s border with myth since studying with Mircea Eliade at the University of Chicago. She and Joel developed an award-?winning course, ?Cosmology and Culture,? which they co-taught for a decade at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Nancy has a new book coming out soon, A God That Could Be Real (Beacon Press, 2015), which proposes a new paradigm for God, the afterlife, and many other spiritual concepts in light of our new knowledge of the universe, the human brain, and the state of our world.
Joel Primack earned his bachelor's degree at Princeton and his PhD at Stanford, and he was a Junior Fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard. He has been on the UCSC faculty since 1973. He is now Distinguished Professor of Physics at UCSC and director of the University of California's systemwide institute on computational astronomy. Primack was one of principal creators of the Cold Dark Matter theory, the basis of the standard modern theory of the universe on the grand scale. He now also works on the formation and evolution of galaxies, comparing supercomputer simulations with observations from Hubble and other telescopes.
Nancy and Joel co-authored The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos (Penguin/Riverhead, 2006) and The New Universe and the Human Future: How a Shared Cosmology Could Transform the World (Yale University Press, 2011). These two books won the 2012 Deepak Chopra Foundation Prize for ?contributions to consciousness and to creating a peaceful, just, sustainable, and healthy world.? The New Universe and the Human Future also won the 2012 Nautilus Gold Award for best science book.
For more information about Abrams and Primack visit: http://new-universe.org
Dr. Milind Diwan
?The Strange Wandering Life of the Neutrino?
Dr. Milind Diwan's Neutrino Day presentation begins at 1:30 p.m. He will discuss the building blocks of matter, their governing principles, and introduce the technological tools and detectors in use. Dr. Diwan will also discuss the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment, a proposed project will shoot neutrinos from Fermilab near Chicago to the Sanford Lab.
Dr. Diwan is a physicist from Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York. He has been a driving force behind the establishment of LBNE, and is a co-spokesperson for the international collaboration that will be carrying out the experiment. He received his BA in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his Ph.D. in Experimental Physics from Brown University. Dr. Diwan has authored or coauthored many papers in the field of particle physics, including theoretical calculations, experimental results and technological developments.
Dr. Mary Kidd
?Pushing the Limits of Detection: The Majorana Demonstrator Project?
Dr. Mary Kidd?s Neutrino Day presentation begins at 9 a.m. A member of MJD, her lecture will elaborate on the role of the Majorana Demonstrator in cutting-edge research and the nature of the neutrino experiment.
Dr. Kidd received her Ph.D. from Duke University in 2010 studying double-beta decay. Formerly a postdoctoral associate at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Dr. Kidd currently is an assistant professor of physics at Tennessee Technological University. Dr. Kidd has been involved in low background underground physics since 2006 and a certified miner since 2008.