Date: Monday, June 11, 2012. 4:15 PM.
Location: Panofsky Auditorium - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Asteroids and comets occasionally strike the Earth with catastrophic consequences. The dinosaurs, who did not have a space program to detect and deflect such objects, paid the price. We can do better, and we have made a substantial start on an international planetary defense effort. Many in the public, however, are focused on imaginary dangers. Millions of people believe that a rogue planet called Nibiru is inbound and will "destroy the Earth" in December of this year, challenging us to better communicate the science of cosmic collisions. Speaker: David Morrison, NASA David Morrison is the senior scientist at the NASA Lunar Science Institute and also serves half-time as Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute. For 20 years he has led in defining the asteroid impact threat. Now he also struggles against pseudoscience; he is the leading scientific critic of the 2012 doomsday hoax.
Location: Panofsky Auditorium - SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, 2575 Sand Hill Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025
Asteroids and comets occasionally strike the Earth with catastrophic consequences. The dinosaurs, who did not have a space program to detect and deflect such objects, paid the price. We can do better, and we have made a substantial start on an international planetary defense effort. Many in the public, however, are focused on imaginary dangers. Millions of people believe that a rogue planet called Nibiru is inbound and will "destroy the Earth" in December of this year, challenging us to better communicate the science of cosmic collisions. Speaker: David Morrison, NASA David Morrison is the senior scientist at the NASA Lunar Science Institute and also serves half-time as Director of the Carl Sagan Center for Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute. For 20 years he has led in defining the asteroid impact threat. Now he also struggles against pseudoscience; he is the leading scientific critic of the 2012 doomsday hoax.