A Magnificent Universe: A Contemplation of Human Purpose

Webinar at 5:00 pm EDT

Please join IRAS for another session of the monthly webinar series, Science, Religion, and Society, featuring

Dr. Jennifer J. Wiseman, Director of the AAAS Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) program at AAAS, and an astrophysicist at NASA.                                  

Respondent: Dr. Steven Finette (Ph.D. in biophysics, Syracuse University), physicist at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC.
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Modern telescopes are revealing an incredible, beautiful, and active universe. Telescopes are also "time machines," sampling ancient light from distant stars and galaxies, revealing a universe that over vast time has transformed everything in existence.  From a burst of initial energy and inflation, we now see a fruitful universe filled with galaxies, stars, planets, and — at least on one planet — life.  Should we feel insignificant or inspired when we consider this incredible, developing universe? Through images of beautiful nebulae, active planets, and even infant galaxies, this talk will show how current and future astronomical discoveries inspire contemplation of human purpose and connection to a magnificent cosmos.

Dr. Jennifer Wiseman is an astrophysicist, author, and speaker. She studies the process of star and planet formation in our galaxy using radio, optical, and infrared telescopes. She is also interested in national science policy and public science engagement. and directs the program of Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion (DoSER) for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Wiseman studied physics at MIT, co-discovering comet Wiseman-Skiff in 1987, and continued in astronomy with her doctoral research at Harvard. She has worked with several international observatories and is currently a senior astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Wiseman is a Fellow of the American Scientific Affiliation, a network of Christians in Science. She frequently gives public talks on the excitement of scientific discovery and appears in many venues including The New York Times, The Washington Post, NOVA, and National Public Radio.

The Institute on Religion in an Age of Science webinar is FREE but registration is required.

Register for September 29 Webinar.

For questions, contact CJ Love: carolynjlove3@gmail.com

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