Astronomy Day at Wits

Humankind has long looked skyward and wondered whether we are alone in the universe. Today astronomers know of at least 600 other planetary systems around distant stars, with over 700 known planets, and over 2 000 additional candidate planets. Are there any habitable planets?

Prof. Debbie Elmegreen, President of the American Astronomical Society, will be delivering a public lecture entitled New Worlds: In search of other Earths on Wits Astronomy Day on Thursday, the 19^th of April 2012.

Elmegreen’s lecture will also be the inaugural Arthur Bleksley Lecture. The evening will commence with an introductory lecture by Prof. David Block from the Wits School of Computational and Applied Mathematics, entitled Smashing the moulds of tradition: lessons from the genius of Wits Applied Mathematician, Arthur Bleksley. The event begins at 18:00 in Auditorium 2 at the Wits Science Stadium on the West Campus.

Earlier on the day, Dr Bruce Elmegreen from the IBM Research Division in New York, US, will also deliver a public lecture entitled Mapping the Invisible Universe which will be followed by a panel discussion. Who could have guessed that the most common form of matter in the Universe is something that is totally invisible to all forms of light?

Dr Elmegreen’s lecture will focus on dark matter and highlight the instruments and experiments that led to many remarkable discoveries and the potential for new discoveries. The event begins at 13:00 in the Wits Great Hall on the East Campus.

All is welcome!