“Cosmic perspectives: from planets to the multiverse” by Professor Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, O.M., F.R.S.
Mon 19 Nov 6:00pm, Theatre L, Newman Building, Arts Block, UCD. Admission free.
Poster
Cosmic perspectives: from planets to the multiverse
Astronomers have made astonishing progress in probing our cosmic environment. 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.
Unmanned spacecraft have visited the other planets of our Solar System (and some of their moons), beaming back pictures of varied and distinctive worlds. And, probing far beyond our Solar System, telescopes, have revealed a vast universe, containing billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars.
An exciting development in the last decade has been the realisation that many other stars are orbited by retinues of planets — some resembling our Earth.
But these advances pose new questions: What does the long-range future hold? How widespread is life in our cosmos? Should we be surprised that the physical laws permitted the emergence of complexity? and: Is physical reality even more extensive than the domain that our telescopes can probe? This illustrated lecture will attempt to address such issues.
Biography
Until his retirement earlier this year, Professor Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, O.M., F.R.S., was the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Professor Rees was appointed to the House of Lords as a non-party-political peer, sitting on the Cross Benches in 2005, in which year he also became President of the Royal Society, a post he held until 2010. He is also Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics in the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge. Among many other academic distinctions he holds the honorary title of Astronomer Royal.
Lord Rees’ awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Balzan International Prize, the Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (AAS/AIP), the Bower Award for Science of the Franklin Institute, the Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation and the Einstein Award of the World Cultural Council.
Among Professor Rees’s publications are the following books: Cosmic Coincidences (UK title: The Stuff of the Universe) with J. Gribbin (1989); New Perspectives in Astrophysical Cosmology (2000); Before the Beginning—Our Universe and Others (1997); Gravity’s Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe (1995); Just Six Numbers (1999); Our Cosmic Habitat (2001);Our Final Century (US title: Our Final Hour) (2003); La Lucciola e il Rifletorre (in Italian only) (2004); Universe, editor (2005); What We Still Don’t Know (2007).
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Last Updated: 22nd March 2016 by Anne Grace
2012-11-19 School of Theoretical Physics Statutory Public Lecture 2012 in association with the School of Cosmic Physics
“Cosmic perspectives: from planets to the multiverse” by Professor Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, O.M., F.R.S.
Mon 19 Nov 6:00pm, Theatre L, Newman Building, Arts Block, UCD. Admission free.
Poster
Cosmic perspectives: from planets to the multiverse
Astronomers have made astonishing progress in probing our cosmic environment. 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.
Unmanned spacecraft have visited the other planets of our Solar System (and some of their moons), beaming back pictures of varied and distinctive worlds. And, probing far beyond our Solar System, telescopes, have revealed a vast universe, containing billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars.
An exciting development in the last decade has been the realisation that many other stars are orbited by retinues of planets — some resembling our Earth.
But these advances pose new questions: What does the long-range future hold? How widespread is life in our cosmos? Should we be surprised that the physical laws permitted the emergence of complexity? and: Is physical reality even more extensive than the domain that our telescopes can probe? This illustrated lecture will attempt to address such issues.
Biography
Until his retirement earlier this year, Professor Martin Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, O.M., F.R.S., was the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Professor Rees was appointed to the House of Lords as a non-party-political peer, sitting on the Cross Benches in 2005, in which year he also became President of the Royal Society, a post he held until 2010. He is also Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics in the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge. Among many other academic distinctions he holds the honorary title of Astronomer Royal.
Lord Rees’ awards include the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Balzan International Prize, the Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (AAS/AIP), the Bower Award for Science of the Franklin Institute, the Cosmology Prize of the Peter Gruber Foundation and the Einstein Award of the World Cultural Council.
Among Professor Rees’s publications are the following books: Cosmic Coincidences (UK title: The Stuff of the Universe) with J. Gribbin (1989); New Perspectives in Astrophysical Cosmology (2000); Before the Beginning—Our Universe and Others (1997); Gravity’s Fatal Attraction: Black Holes in the Universe (1995); Just Six Numbers (1999); Our Cosmic Habitat (2001);Our Final Century (US title: Our Final Hour) (2003); La Lucciola e il Rifletorre (in Italian only) (2004); Universe, editor (2005); What We Still Don’t Know (2007).
Category: Astronomy and Astrophysics Section News & Events
Available to buy on the DIAS bookshop: books.dias.ie/index.php?main… (5/5) #DIASdiscovers #celtic #studies #twopatricks
"In the lives of St. Patrick, the two saints are invariably fused into one", said Prof. O'Rahilly in his lecture. The lecture was a condensation from O’Rahilly’s book “The two Patricks: a lecture on the history of Christianity in fifth-century Ireland”. (4/5)
He was known by his first name Patricius, which in later times would lead to confusion as he was succeeded by another apostle of the same name (Saint Patrick or Patricius in Latin). (3/5)
He spoke on "Palladius and Patrick". Palladius was the first bishop of the Christians of Ireland. (2/5)
Date: 21st March 1942 Paper: The Irish Press Headline: Palladius and Patrick | School Of Celtic Studies Lecture Synopsis: The first public lecture under the auspices of the School of Celtic Studies was delivered in Trinity College by Professor T. F. O'Rahilly in 1942. (1/5)
As part of our ongoing participation in the @HistFest we decided to take a look into the Irish Newspaper Archives and see where DIAS made it into print over the last 80 years. There were so many articles, the hardest part was selecting what we would post. We hope you enjoy!
@AReillyFailte @CultureNight @VisitDublin Thanks Antoinette! Glad you enjoyed 😊
Big thank you to @MartinaPQuinn of @helloalicepr for moderating the discussion, and of course to our panel @NeasaMcG @CormacORafferty and @laoneill111
@CormacORafferty "to cut yourself off from fundamental research means you could miss out on some of the biggest ideas"
@laoneill "it's our job as researchers to keep reminding governments how important basic research is" "For Dev basic research being carried out in Ireland was a badge of pride"
@NeasaMcG Schrödinger's work in causality was not well received by the religious authorities at the time At the same time DIAS did have Catholic priests working on research projects in the early days, so there was not the conflict you might think between science and religion
@laoneill111 Schrödinger was very popular in social circles in Dublin, a bit of a renaissance man
@CormacORafferty Schrödinger was gifted at explaining difficult concepts
@CormacORafferty on how unsuccessful work, in Schrödinger's case, unified field theory, is just as important part of science. And no one has managed to crack it yet! And not forgetting the cat
@laoneill111 how Schrödinger's book inspired scientists to change fields and result in the finding of the double helix.
@NeasaMcG explaining how DIAS came about and how Schrödinger was attracted to Ireland #DIASdiscovers
Panel Discussion getting underway! @laoneill111 @CormacORafferty @NeasaMcG @MartinaPQuinn
We're half way through the documentary... Join us for the rest and the fascinating discussion to follow DM for link