If you would like to post your event, please e-mail Joseph Caputo at jcaputo@sciencemetropolis.com.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
7:00 p.m.
BOOK TALK
“The Invention of Air: A Story of Science, Faith, Revolution and the Birth of America” by Steven Johnson.
@ Harvard Book Store | 1256 Mass. Ave.
Harvard Book Store is pleased to welcome STEVEN JOHNSON, best-selling author of The Ghost Map, to discuss his new book, The Invention of Air, which tells the story of Joseph Priestley, an eighteenth-century radical thinker who played pivotal roles in the invention of ecosystem science, the discovery of oxygen, the founding of the Unitarian Church, and the intellectual development of the United States.
This event is free. No tickets are necessary.
Monday, January 19, 2009
7:00 p.m.
MOVIE SCREENING AND LECTURE
Science on Screen
“THEREMIN: AN ELECTRONIC ODYSSEY” with guest speaker MIT Professor of Music and Media Tod Machover.
@ Coolidge Corner Theatre
Leon Theremin made music as strange as the life he lived. This documentary follows the story of Theremin as he invents the first electronic music synthesizer (the sound which found its way into so many classic 1950’s sci-fi films) and explores his life in Russia following his abduction at the hands of KGB agents. For more info vist: http://www.coolidge.org/science.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
7:30 p.m.
THE PHILOSOPHY CAFE
“Reality: A Necessary Fiction?”
@ Harvard Book Store, Lower Level | 1256 Mass. Ave.
We distinguish between how things seem and how they really are in themselves. We suppose there’s a real world “out there” independent of cognition that we sometimes grasp accurately, whether in conscious experience or in scientific theories. But do we ever encounter the world directly, unmediated by our models of it? If not, is the very idea of a cognition-independent reality suspect, or must it survive as a necessary assumption of cognition itself? Suggested readings will be posted at http://www.naturalism.org/philo_cafe.htm as soon as they are available. This event is free. No tickets are necessary.
Monday, February 2, 2009
7:00 p.m.
MOVIE SCREENING AND LECTURE
Science on Screen
“Groundhog Day” with guest speaker science historian Peter Galison.
@ Coolidge Corner Theatre
Phil Connors (Bill Murray) is a television weatherman, assigned to the task of covering whether or not local groundhog “Punxsutawny Phil”, will see his shadow. It’s his forth year waiting on word from the rodent to determine the length of the remaining winter, and Phil couldn’t be more open about his disdain for the town, his job and his co-workers. When he awakens on what should be the following day, he is stunned to realize that no time has progressed; Phil is reliving his most hated day of the year, over and over again, with no end in sight. For more info vist: http://www.coolidge.org/science.
Monday, March 2, 2009
7:00 p.m.
MOVIE SCREENING AND LECTURE
Science on Screen
“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” with guest speaker social psychologist Mahzarin Banaji.
@ Coolidge Corner Theatre
When young Joanna Drayton brings her new fiance home to San Francisco to meet her liberal parents, their progressive leanings are put to they test when they discover the man their daughter has chosen to settle down with is black. Sydney Poitier stars as the successful and respected Dr. John Wade Prentice, who challenges the preconceived notions of of Mr. and Mrs. Drayton (Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn) during dinner one evening. For more info vist: http://www.coolidge.org/science.