| 2009: Year of Astronomy |
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The Universe is yours to discover during the International Year of Astronomy 2009. Look up and indulge your fascination with outer space, as the sky comes to life with a host of events and activities. General info
Astronomy has been a subject of fascination for millions of people throughout history and has lead to many discoveries about the universe and our place in it. Astronomy WA and its partner organisations will be running events all throughout the International Year of Astronomy. View the official International Year of Astronomy website. You can view these events under Events in our What's Happening? menu at the top of the page, or browse to our Upcoming Events tab on this page for the events happening soonest. For a calendar of events for IYA 2009, download the pdf to the right. Featured eventA Universe made for me? The anthropic principle in Astronomy: Free Lecture How lucky we are, finding us living on a planet with just the right conditions for liquid water to flow This 'lucky' situation underpins the anthropic principle, which related our very existence to the evolution of the cosmos. To some, the anthropic principle is little more than misguided hand-waving, whereas to others it tells us something fundamental about the universe. In this talk, we will look at the successes and failures of this controversial idea, as well as looking to the future, where some think that the anthropic principle may be our only guide to one of the major outstanding questions in physics, namely how do we construct a theory of everything? Biographical details Born in Old South Wales, Geraint undertook a PhD at the University of Cambridge before spending several years at universities in the USA and Canada. He joined the Anglo-Australian Observatory in 2000, before moving to the University of Sydney where he is a Professor of Astrophysics. Date: Tuesday, 29 September 2009 Time: 6pm Location: Social Sciences Lecture Theatre, UWA (The nearest carpark is P3 off Hackett Drive Entrance 1) Cost: Free. No RSVP required. Enquiries: Institute of Advanced Studies on 6488 1340 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Upcoming eventsHere are the nearest exciting events happening in 2009. You can view even more events at our Astronomy WA Events listings. Featured articlesMore to read, download and learn.
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 22 September 2009 14:07 |
on its surface. More than that, we live in a universe old enough, and with just the right laws of physics, to forge the heavy elements from which we are made.