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Tuesday, June 10 "Dark Matter and Dark Energy"
SRI Menlo Park Click here for map and directions Everything in our observable world is made of the same building blocks: protons, neutrons and electrons (“baryonic matter”). However, baryonic matter comprises only 5% of the cosmos. This means an amazing 95% of the universe is comprised out of mystery materials that we cannot directly observe. Scientists have named the mystery components “dark matter” and “dark energy.” Dark matter comprises roughly 23% of the universe. Scientists know dark matter is there because of its gravitational pull. The remaining 72% is dark energy, which causes space itself to expand at an ever increasing rate. Patricia Burchat is a professor in Stanford’s Department of Physics, where she is Department Chair. Her research has focused on fundamental physics: What is the Universe made of? What are the laws of physics that govern the fundamental constituents of the Universe? Her research efforts have included smashing things together at Stanford Linear Accelerator and the development of a large survey telescope in Chile which will focus on mapping dark matter. Join Patricia for a discussion exploring the evidence for dark matter and dark energy, and the experiments being developed to investigate their fundamental nature. Patricia received her PhD in physics from Stanford in 1986. Long recognized for her teaching ability, she received the Walter J. Gores Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2007, Stanford’s highest teaching honor. Café Scientifique events are open to all free of charge. No reservations are necessary. For more information please visit our web site: http://www.cafescisv.org/ . Check the web for information about future and past events, including photos. Feel free to forward this announcement to interested friends and colleagues. Sign up here to receive announcements. Sponsored by ROXRO PHARMA and SRI, Café Scientifique is a place where anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology and debate science issues outside a traditional academic context. We meet monthly to discuss a variety of science topics. Feel free to forward this message to anyone you think could be interested.
Join us at SRI in Menlo Park Coffee, tea and biscotti will be complimentary, provided by SRI Courtesy of Kepler's there will be a drawing for a $30 gift card for books or merchandise at Kepler's on El Camino Real in Menlo Park. Those who choose to enter the drawing will have their names added to the Kepler's mailing list. Special thanks to Kepler's for supporting Cafe Sci. Café Scientifique is a place where anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology. The Café provides a forum for debating science issues outside a traditional academic context. We are committed to promoting public engagement with science and to making science accountable - all spoken in plain English. There is no admission charge to attend our events. Building on its great success outside the United States, Café Scientifique Silicon Valley is the first such Café on the West Coast. We meet monthly to discuss a variety of science topics. January 3, 2007 Press Release: Café Scientifique Silicon Valley Has New Home at SRI International. The Menlo Park Almanac has a nice article about Café Scientifique’s new home at SRI. ABC 7 featured the science cafe movement during its evening news telecast on November 13, 2006. Produced by KGO-TV from San Francisco, the segment showed the new larger location for our Silicon Valley chapter at SRI in Menlo Park. Link here for a transcript of the segment along with still photos. |
