Empiricist League Searches for E.T.

02 Jan 13
Friends of the Studio, Work

Our fourth poster for the Empiricist League aims at the stars for the latest in their series of science talks in bars. Now in Brooklyn, one of the epicenters of the science + hipster + nerd + alcohol cultural trend. The Empiricist League events feature expert thinkers in unpretentious, relaxed surroundings.

This time, the theme is “It Came From Outer Space: The Search for Life Beyond Planet Earth, on Tuesday, January 22nd at 7:15 at Public Assembly in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (70 North 6th Street). Here’s the line-up:

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Sifting the Stars with NASA’s Kepler Mission

Lucianne Walkowicz is the Henry Norris Russell Fellow in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton and a TED Senior Fellow. She studies magnetic activity in the atmospheres of cool stars and stellar effects on planetary habitability using data from NASA’s Kepler Mission.  Dr. Walkowicz will speak to the Empiricist League about NASA’s search for life beyond our solar system, and how stars affect a planet’s ability to have life on it.

Mission to Mars: Curiosity and the Future of Mars Exploration

Andrew Kessler is the author of Martian Summer, a non-fiction account of his time spent working on the Phoenix Mars mission. It’s about winning the nerd lottery–getting the most exclusive ticket to work inside mission control for a NASA mission to Mars.  His work has also appeared in The New York Times and on The Discovery Channel. He holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley.  Mr. Kessler will speak to the Empiricist League about how NASA’s Curiosity rover seeks out signs of life on the red planet.

Signs of Life:  Giant Space Telescopes and the Search for Other Earth-like Planets

Lee Billings is a science journalist who has written for Nature, New Scientist, Popular Mechanics, and Seed.  His essay “Incredible Journey,” about the state of the art of interstellar exploration, was recently reprinted in Scientific American’s anthology The Best Science Writing Online 2012.  He is also the author of the upcoming book “Five Billion Years of Solitude”, about the search for other Earth-like planets.  Mr. Billings will speak to the Empiricist League about the methodologies that astronomers and planetary scientists use to someday find extraterrestrial, extrasolar life.

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