Public Lectures on Astronomy

I have a series of public lectures that I like to give on topics such as astrophysics, the history of astronomy, cultural astronomy, and observational astronomy (stargazing). I give public lectures occasionally at the Leitner Observatory in New Haven, and I also occasionally give these lectures for amateur astronomy clubs, civic groups, school groups, and universities. I am continually updating my lectures, and they can be adapted for almost any public audience.

I enjoy giving these lectures, so if you would like to have me speak to your group, please contact me, and we can work something out. In many cases I'm happy to come and speak in exchange for travel reimbursement.

Examples of lectures I have given in the past:

Cultural Astronomy:

• "What's Your Sign? Astrology, Astronomy, and Pseudoscience": I this lecture I take a look at the cultural phenomenon of Traditional Western Astrology, its historical connections to astronomy, and why astrology is not a science.
• "The Astronomy, Astrology, and Cosmology of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica", or "What the Sky meant to the Maya": This lecture covers the archaeoastronomy of the Mayan civilization, especially the development of the Mayan calendar and the many examples of astronomical alignments in Mayan architecture.
• "Astronomy at the Movies" or "Does Hollywood Know Anything about Astronomy?" : A look at what Hollywood gets right and wrong most of the time in movies, including a discussion of common misconceptions in astronomy. This lecture includes many film clips as examples.

History of Astronomy:

• "The Radio Universe: Contributions of Radio Astronomy": I discuss the history of radio astronomy, which has made many incredibly important contributions to our understanding of the Universe over the past 60 years. This lecture can include some hands-on demos and an explanation of how a radio telescope works.
• "How Modern Cosmology was Born at Mt. Wilson Observatory": This lecture covers the discoveries made and the personalities involved at Mt. Wilson Observatory from 1918 to 1938, arguably the most important years and the most important place in the development of Modern Cosmology. The talk covers the discovery that the sun was not the center of the Universe, the discovery that the Andromeda "Nebula" was an entirely separate galaxy like our own, and the discovery that the Universe is expanding.

Astrophysics:

• "Recent Discoveries in Astronomy": In this lecture I discuss and interpret the most recent astronomical discoveries that are in the news.