Aug 21, 2008 issue
ET Researcher In Hickory Saturday Evening
Story by Bernadette Cahill
Dr. Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute of Mountain View, Calif. will be in Hickory this Saturday, August 23, to talk about the latest advances in extraterrestrial intelligence research. The research aims to find out if human beings are a one-of-a-kind life form in the universe or if we are only one race among many.
Hickory’s Catawba Science Center and the Catawba Valley Astronomy Club sponsor Shostak’s lecture that takes place at 7:00 p.m. at the Science Center located at 243 3rd Avenue NE in Hickory. Admission is $5 for Catawba Science Center members and $8 for nonmembers. Shostak will answer audience questions at the end of his talk, and a reception in the Catawba Science Center’s planetarium building will follow.
Besides being a senior astronomer with the SETI Institute, Shostak is an observer for Project Phoenix, a SETI search for extraterrestrial intelligence by analyzing patterns in radio signals that began in February 1995.
Shostak is also a regular participant in various international forums for SETI research. He frequently represents the SETI Institute in the media and each Sunday night hosts the institute’s weekly radio show, Are We Alone? Guests on the leading edge of scientific discovery and technological advance talk about their work and answer callers’ questions about astrobiology and space exploration.
Shostak is well known for making complex science understandable. He has written hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines and for the SPACE.com website, as well as authoring three books, including a popular textbook on astrobiology.
The Catawba Science Center is a nonprofit science and technology museum that hosts traveling exhibits, has a digital planetarium theater and features North Carolina’s only marine touch tank with live sharks and stingrays.
In honor of Shostak’s visit, the Catawba Science Center will present SETI-themed activities throughout the day, such as designing and building aliens in an Inventor’s Workshop. The documentary, SETI: Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence will also feature on the Millholland Planetarium dome at 10:30 a.m., 1:00 and 3:00 p.m. Catawba Sky, a live star talk, will show at 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. that day.
For more information, call 828-322-8169 or click to www.catawbascience.org.
Want To Go?
Date: Saturday, August 23
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Catawba Science Center, Hickory
Cost: $5 for members/$8 for nonmembers
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