Monday 26 June 2023 20:00
The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, in collaboration with the Hellenic Astronomical Society, is presenting on Monday, June 26, a lecture titled “The Universe is comprehensible” at the SNFCC Lighthouse.
How did it all begin? How did Earth come forth? What about the stars? The galaxies? The Universe? Why is there something where there could be nothing?
These questions have been enthralling people for millennia and given rise to countless creation myths. But what if we could tell a story of creation that is not only based on our imagination and reason, but also on actual facts? What if we could use the scientific method, with careful observations, thorough theories and impressive experiments, to illuminate the mysteries of the Universe? And what if, instead of mitigating the magic of our narratives, this actually enhanced it by imbuing our art and imagination with truth?
In this lecture, Vasiliki Pavlidou will analyze how modern physics, the greatest telescopes and cutting-edge experiments have allowed us to comprehend the Universe in ways that were previously unthinkable. We will also discover that, here in Greece, we are not only consumers of the wonders of science, discovery and the art that derives from them, but also producers of them, actively contributing to the global adventure of searching for our cosmic origins.
We are looking forward to your joining us in this fascinating journey to the beginnings of the Universe!
Vasiliki Pavlidou Vassiliki Pavlidou is Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Crete and Associate Faculty Member at the Institute of Astrophysics of FORTH. She received her B.S. in Physics from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 1999 and her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 2005. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago Institute for Cosmological Physics from 2005 to 2008, and as an Einstein fellow at Caltech from 2008 to 2011. In 2011/12, she was a visiting researcher at the Max-Plank Institute for Radioastronomy. In 2010, she was elected Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics and came to the University of Crete in the autumn of 2012. In 2014, she received the “L'Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science” award. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 2018 and tenured Professor in 2023. Her fields of interest include high-energy astrophysics, cosmology, high-energy polarimetry, magnetic fields in our Galaxy and in extragalactic environments, radio astronomy, dark matter, dark energy, and particle physics exploration through astrophysics and cosmic rays.
Monday, June 26, 20.00–21.00 Lighthouse Free Admission
The lecture will be followed by Stargazing at the Southern Walks.
Photograph: Jeremy Thomas
