The Armagh Observatory and the Armagh Natural History and Philosophical Society are co-hosting a free public lecture on Thursday 22 October 2009 in the Rotunda Lecture Theatre, St. Patrick's Trian, Armagh. The Lecture will be delivered by Dr Martin Hendry of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow. The lecture will begin at 8.00 pm and is scheduled to end at 9.00 pm with questions, followed by tea and coffee.
The title of the lecture is: "Why Are We Here?"
People who wish to attend should reserve their free tickets with Aileen (tel 028 3752 2928) as soon as possible - in other words - DO IT TODAY OR TOMORROW since interest is growing and there is a limited number of seats in the Rotunda Theatre.
Martin Hendry is an exceptionally good public speaker. The abstract for his public talk is printed below:
"Since the dawn of civilization human cultures have sought to understand our place in the universe, asking "big questions" about our cosmic origins. Modern Cosmology provides some startling answers to these questions: not only is the universe expanding, but we believe the expansion to be accelerating - driven by a mysterious "dark energy" that challenges our ideas about gravity and the very nature of space and time. Moreover our runaway universe appears to be rather delicately balanced, in the sense that small changes in the laws of nature would result in a very different cosmos - most likely unsuitable for life like us. What does all of this mean for our cosmic origins? Is our universe unique, or do we belong to a "multiverse" - a vast ensemble of universes, each with its own laws of nature. In his lecture, Dr Hendry will explore these and other questions posed by the latest cosmological discoveries, and discuss what implications they might have for the existence of life in the universe. The Lecturer commented, тАЬour work explores the use of lensing to probe the atmospheres of stars and 'image' their surfaces revealing e.g. star 'spots' with further application to detecting extra-solar planets,тАЭ he went on to say, тАЬI look forward to my visit to the Armagh Observatory, it is a great opportunity for the community of Northern Ireland to get an insight into the workings of our universe, gaining a greater understanding of why we are here.тАЭ