Mapping the Heavens – Mar 8
The formation and growth of black holes, the accelerating expansion of the universe, the echo of the Big Bang, the discovery of earth-like exoplanets, and the possibility of other universes — these are some of the intriguing subjects of early 21st-century astronomy and cosmology. Join Yale's Priya Natarajan in exploring the radical ideas and discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of the universe over the past century.
Priya Natarajan
Dr. Priya Natarajan is Professor of Physics and Professor of Astronomy at Yale University. She is particularly noted for her work in mapping dark matter, in gravitational lensing, and in the growth of supermassive black holes. She is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the American Physical Society.
Priya Natarajan
WHAT: Mapping the Heavens — A Delightful Tour of the Cosmos
WHO: Priya Natarajan, Professor of Astronomy & Physics, Yale University
WHERE: Cubberley Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road (at Montrose), Palo Alto
WHEN: 2017-03-08 — 7:00pm, Wednesday, March 8, 2017
HOW: Produced by Wonderfest and the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley. To purchase deeply discounted tickets, use promo code WONDERFEST at the website below.
TicketsUse promotional code WONDERFEST
The Parent as Gardener
Caring deeply about our children is part of what makes us human. Yet the thing we call “parenting” is a surprisingly new invention. In the past thirty years, “parenting” has transformed child care into an obsessive, controlling, and goal-oriented effort to create a particular kind of child. Drawing on the study of human evolution and her own cutting-edge research, developmental psychologist and philosopher Alison Gopnik shatters key myths of “good parenting.” Interviewing Dr. Gopnik will be Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of How to Raise an Adult.
Alison Gopnik is Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an internationally recognized leader in the study of children’s learning and development and was the first to argue that children’s minds could help us understand deep philosophical questions.
Dr. Alison Gopnik
WHAT: The Parent as Gardener
WHO: Dr. Alison Gopnik, Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley
WHERE: Cubberley Community Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road (at Montrose), Palo Alto
Map: [https://goo.gl/maps/d6KcAS4D5oP2]
Map: [https://goo.gl/maps/d6KcAS4D5oP2]
WHEN: 2017-02-16 7:00pm, Thursday, February 16, 2017
HOW:
Co-produced with the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley. Purchase DISCOUNT tickets with promo code WONDERFEST via the Eventbrite link, below.
Why Time Flies – Feb 9
Time may be — simultaneously! — both the most mundane and the most mysterious feature of our universe. Wonderfest and Bookshop West Portal present The New Yorker’s Alan Burdick in discussion of his new book, Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation. What is time, really? Do children experience it the same way adults do? Why does it seem to slow down when we’re bored and speed by as we get older? How do scientists measure it, and why is probability involved? How and why does time fly?
Alan Burdick
Alan Burdick is a staff writer and former senior editor at The New Yorker; he is also a frequent contributor to Elements, the magazine's science-and-tech blog. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Discover, and Best American Science and Nature Writing. His first book, Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, was a National Book Award finalist and won the Overseas Press Club Award for environmental reporting. [Photo by Laura Rose]
Alan Burdick
WHAT: Why Time Flies — a mostly scientific inquiry
WHO: Alan Burdick
WHERE: Bookshop West Portal, 80 W. Portal Avenue, San Francisco [http://www.bookshopwestportal.com]
Map: [https://goo.gl/maps/qzvh6Xhzg3k]
Map: [https://goo.gl/maps/qzvh6Xhzg3k]
WHEN: 2017-02-09 7:00pm, Thursday, February 9, 2017
HOW: Please register for this FREE event in the space below.
An Evening with Larry Brilliant, Oct 10
Visionary physician and spiritual seeker Larry Brilliant helped to eradicate smallpox in South Asia and to restore sight to 3.5 million blind people in 20 countries. Brilliant has worked with global leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Jobs, the Dalai Lama, and Barack Obama. Here, he will discuss his new book Sometimes Brilliant, "a riveting and fascinating epidemiological adventure," and "a testament to faith, love, service, and what it means to engage with life’s most important questions in pursuit of a better, more brilliant existence."
Produced in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley. Purchase discount tickets through THIS LINK with promo code WONDERFEST.
WHAT: An Evening with Larry Brilliant
WHO: Larry Brilliant, Chairman, Skoll Global Threats Fund
WHERE: Schultz Cultural Hall, Oshman JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto
WHEN: 2016-10-10 — 7:00pm, Monday, October 10, 2016