Wednesday, May 11
8:15 p.m.
Professor of Astrophysics
at Princeton University
Josh Winn
Strange New Worlds
For centuries, people have wondered whether the stars
in the sky harbor planets of their own. Astronomers
began discovering such “exoplanets” in the1990s, and
by this point, more than 5,000 are known. Advances in
technology have brought us to the threshold of finding
planets similar to Earth, while also revealing bizarre
new worlds unlike anything in our Solar System. These
new discoveries have implications for the theory of
planet formation and the search for life elsewhere in
the galaxy. This presentation will describe the basic
techniques that are used to find exoplanets, some
of the most interesting and surprising results, and the
prospects for future discoveries.
Josh Winn is a professor of astrophysics at Princeton University.
He and his family (his wife Lara, and their two children Sam
and Sophie) moved to Princeton and joined the Jewish
Center in 2016. Previously they lived in the Boston area,
where Josh had been a professor at MIT. Josh has recorded
two lecture series about astronomy for the Teaching
Company (and their streaming service, Wondrium), and
is writing The Little Book of Exoplanets, to be published by
Princeton University Press.
8:15 p.m. Via Zoom – OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY
PROGRAM WILL BE HELD VIA ZOOM.
REGISTER HERE: Great Minds Salon with Josh Winn – Event – The Jewish Center of Princeton (shulcloud.com)
A Zoom link will be sent to all registrants prior to the event
