PRESS RELEASE

                                                                                                 January 24, 2018

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Cosette Ratliff, Supervising Librarian Adult Services

(510) 747-7716

Are we alone? Searching for Cosmic Company

The Alameda Free Library is proud to present its inaugural event in the occasional series “Social Science.”

This series will bring cutting edge science to the layperson in a relaxed and informal atmosphere, where questions are valued and interchange between scientist and audience is encouraged.

On Sunday, January 28, 2018, Dr. Steve Croft of the Berkeley SETI Research Center will share about the Breakthrough Listen project at the Main Library, 1550 Oak Street, beginning at 1:30 pm.

For millennia, humans have gazed at the stars and asked, “Are we alone in the Universe?” In the past few decades, we have discovered that many of the pinpoints of light scattered across our night sky are suns that host worlds similar to our own. Still, though, the question remains unanswered as to whether minds have arisen elsewhere, or if life as we know it is rare, or indeed unique. 

All ages are invited to attend. Parents are encouraged to bring children and help them to understand the concepts presented. Registration is requested, and can be completed by calling the Reference Desk at 510-747-7713, or via the library calendar at: http://alamedaca.evanced.info/signup/Calendar

Dr. Steve Croft is a researcher in the UC Berkeley Astronomy Department. He grew up in England, where he received a PhD in astrophysics from Oxford University in 2002, before moving to California to work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Since 2007, Croft has been a researcher in the Astronomy Department at UC Berkeley. Dr. Croft has a deep commitment to public communication of science, including as director of outreach programs at Berkeley SETI Research Center, as well as through a project he initiated to connect underrepresented students to NASA science through art and visualization, and as the founder and coordinator of the Science@Cal Lecture Series.

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