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Joel Primack

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Nancy Ellen Abrams

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"The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos" book cover

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FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE LECTURE

Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos

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Lecturers: Joel R. Primack, professor of physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Nancy Ellen Abrams, co-authors of new book, "The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos.”
Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Place: Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Building Auditorium, University of Utah

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

For thousands of years, humans thought of themselves as central to the universe and created symbols and myths to make sense of the world and their special place in it. When Copernicus and Galileo shattered the view of the Earth as the center of the universe, people turned away from the intuitive symbols that had sustained our ancestors, and for the past 400 years we have seen ourselves as adrift, living on an inconsequential rock in an endless expanse of space.

But recent discoveries in astronomy, physics and cosmology have uncovered an astonishing truth: Humans actually are central to the universe in profound and important ways that derive directly from science - ways that Copernicus and Galileo never could have imagined, according to “The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Universe,” a new book by Joel Primack and Nancy Ellen Abrams.

They argue that, for the first time in human history, a scientific theory of the universe as a whole is emerging – a theory that explains how the universe operates, what it's made of, where it came from, and how it"s evolving. Drawing from the latest discoveries and ideas in astrophysics and cosmology, Primack and Abrams will show how humans are indeed central to the universe and what this might mean for our culture and our personal lives. We are the first generation capable of grasping what the nature of the universe may imply about Earth – and how this knowledge can be used to protect the long-term future of our planet.

Primack has done foundational research in cosmology, which is the study of the universe. He and his team use some of the world’s largest supercomputers to simulate the evolution of the universe, and they compare the results with observational data. He has recently chaired the Forum on Physics and Society of the American Physical Society, as well as the Committee on Science, Ethics, and Religion of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Primack is one of the world’s leading cosmologists and an originator and developer of the theory of “cold dark matter,” now widely accepted as the standard theory of the structure and evolution of the universe.

Abrams is a lawyer, writer and former Fulbright scholar, with a long-term interest in the history, philosophy, and politics of science. While working on the staff of the U.S. Congress, she co-created a novel method by which government agencies can make wise policy decisions in cases involving scientific uncertainty, and she has consulted on this for the Swedish government, several state governments and various corporations. Her articles have appeared in journals, magazines and books.

For a decade, Primack and Abrams have been co-teaching a course at the University of California, Santa Cruz, titled “Cosmology and Culture.” They have co-authored two books, “Advice and Dissent: Scientists in the Political Arena” and – set to be published April 6 – “The View from the Center of the Universe: Discovering Our Extraordinary Place in the Cosmos.”

University of Utah College of Science
1430 E. Presidents Circle, Room 220
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0140
(801) 581-6958 fax: (801) 585-3169
www.science.utah.edu