FREE LECTURE: The 2009 Australian Institute of Physics De Laeter Youth Lecture

What the talk is about… The universe is a very big place......possibly infinitely big. So there are plenty of possibilities for life to originate and evolve. We would like to know the answer to the question “Are we alone?” Although we have not found any direct evidence for aliens, Hollywood keeps showing us what we hope for and what we are afraid of. I will discuss the real but indirect scientific evidence that we do have for trying to answer the question.

About the speaker… Charles H. Lineweaver is the coordinator of the Australian National University’s Planetary Science Institute and holds a joint appointment as an associate professor in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Research School of Earth Sciences. He obtained his PhD in astrophysics from the University of California at Berkeley, supervised by George Smoot (2006 Physics Nobel Prize for the discovery of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background radiation). Lineweaver’s research areas include cosmology (determination of the age and composition of the universe) exoplanetology (the statistical analysis of exoplanets) and astrobiology (using our new knowledge of cosmology to constrain life in the Universe). His research has been published in Science, Nature, the Astrophysical Journal, Astrobiology, Scientific American, American Journal of Physics, and Microbiology Australia. Charley appears frequently on television explaining all aspects of astronomy and our Universe, has lived in or traveled through 62 countries, speaks 4 languages and was a semi-professional soccer player in Germany.

The talk series… The De Laeter Youth Lecture is organized annually by the WA Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics. It is named in honour Emeritus Professor John De Laeter, of Curtin University. Not only is Professor De Laeter one of Western Australia’s most noted scientists, but he has had an enormous impact on education is Western Australia. A minor planet has been named after Professor De Laeter in recognition of his research in astrophysics and, in 1992, was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his contributions to science, education and industry. He received a Eureka Prize in 2005, and a Clunies Ross Science and Technology Award in 2006, and has been recognised by a Premier’s Science Awards for his lifelong dedication to science in WA.

Email Fiona Garner [Fiona.Garner@uwa.edu.au phone: 6488 5543 or 6488 3917] with the following information: • School name: • Your name: • Student numbers: • Year group: • Your contact details: Email - Phone - You will receive a confirmatory email with details including bus parking, the venue etc. There are limited places for this lecture and in most previous years it has been sold out so please be early with your bookings.