Info:
Observer Effects: Conversations on Art & Science is FREE and open to the public. To reserve a seat please call the box office 518.276.3921
Dinner will be for sale at 6 PM to enjoy as part of the event. Wine and refreshments will also be available as part of our normal cafe service.
Observer Effects: Conversations on Art & Science
Jean-Pierre Luminet
Jean-Pierre Luminet, an expert on black holes, cosmology, and cosmic topology, will discuss the relationship between principles of aesthetics and the study of the cosmos through the work of artists, philosophers, and scientists, from Plato to Kepler, and Dürer to Escher. A collaborator of Gérard Grisey's Le Noir de l'Étoile, Luminet will discuss his role in the spatial percussion piece about the death of a pulsar, which will be performed by Les Percussions de Strasbourg in EMPAC's Concert Hall on Saturday, February 26, 2011.
"Symmetry is one of the most fundamental concepts in geometry, whose principal concern is to find ‘pure’ shapes—the equivalent of the physicist’s search for fundamental elements. It is so prevalent in nature, from the human body to crystals, atoms, particle physics, or cosmology, that it is difficult to imagine it not being central to our understanding of the world."
— Jean-Pierre Luminet, Science, Art and Geometrical Imagination
Curator: Emily Berçir Zimmerman
FREE + Open to the Public
For all Observer Effects talks, dinner will be for sale at 6 PM to enjoy as part of the event. Wine and refreshments will also be available as part of our cafe service.
Bio:
Jean-Pierre Luminet is a French astrophysicist. He is the research director for the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), and is a member of the Laboratoire Univers et Théories (LUTH) of the observatory of Paris-Meudon. He was awarded the 2006 Great Prize of the French Academy of Sciences for science communication, and the 1999 International Georges Lemaitre Prize for his original contributions to cosmology and astrophysics. He has published in journals such as Nature, Astrophysical Journal, and Astronomy and Astrophysics, among others. He has also published three acclaimed novels and several poetry books.
More information:
Observer Effects: Conversations on Art & Science Series Dates/Times:
Jean-Pierre Luminet—March 2, 2011