RSVP: Joseph Evinger (jdevinger@comcast.net)
When: Every 2nd Thursday of the month, 3:00-4:30 pm
Where: Zoom (click "Zoom" to join event)
Meeting ID: 848 0146 1083
Passcode: science
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+1 669 900 9128
Meeting ID: 848 0146 1083
Open to: All
Science and Ideas:
For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet
Presenter: Matthew Shindell, Ph.D.
Join us to learn about Mars and its secrets and how they have fascinated and mystified humans since ancient times. Due to its vivid color and visibility, its geologic kinship with Earth, and its potential as our best hope for settlement, Mars embodies everything that inspires us about space and exploration. For the Love of Mars surveys the red planet's place in the human imagination, beginning with ancient astrologers and skywatchers and ending in our present moment of exploration and virtual engagement. This talk will highlight historical figures across eras and around the world who have made sense of this mysterious planet. Shindell will highlight historical figures such as:
• Mayan astrologer priests who incorporated Mars into seasonal calendars and religious ceremonies;
• Medieval poets who imagined religious journeys into the heavenly spheres;
• Figures of the Scientific Revolution who struggled to comprehend it as a world;
• Victorian astronomers who sought signs of intelligent life; and
• 20th- and 21st-century scientists who have established a technological presence on its surface.
Along the way, we will encounter writers and artists from each of these periods who take readers and viewers along on imagined journeys to Mars.