Dimitar Sasselov, a professor with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, will be the last lecturer in the 2017-18 Frontiers of Astronomy Lecture Series. Sasselov will present “Other Earths and Origins of Life” Thursday, April 12, from 8 to 9 p.m. in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Earlier in the day, Sasselov will give a special combined physics and astronomy colloquium at 4 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall, Room 301.
About the lecture
Sasselov will discuss the new field of scientific research on the emerging frontier where astronomy meets biochemistry. In the past year, astronomers have discovered planets that resemble Earth around nearby stars and now prepare to explore them with a new generation of telescopes. In the meantime, chemists and biologists have narrowed down the environments necessary for early forms of Earth life and are helping the astronomers in defining their targets.
About the speaker
Sasselov studies extrasolar planets as a co-investigator on NASA’s Kepler mission, which monitors 100,000 stars in a three-year hunt for exoplanets, including Jupiter-sized giants. Sasselov watches for exoplanets by looking for transits, the act of a planet passing across the face of its star, dimming its light and changing its chemical signature. This simple way of searching has led to a bounty of newly discovered planets.
Sasselov also is the director of Harvard’s Origins of Life Initiative, a new interdisciplinary institute that joins biologists, chemists and astronomers in searching for the starting points of life on Earth (and possibly elsewhere).
About the series
In cooperation with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Astronomical Society and through the support of the Arthur S. Holden, Sr. Endowment, the Department of Astronomy sponsors the 2017-18 Frontiers of Astronomy Lecture Series. The series brings renowned astronomers from across the country to present free lectures throughout the year.