This event is now fully booked. The lecture will be recorded and shared in the RSC YouTube channel.
There is the real and fascinating probability that in the future we will be confronted with extraterrestrial worlds whose physical conditions and compositions result in chemistries radically different from our own. Join us at this year’s Humphry Davy Lecture, in collaboration with the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and RSC Astrochemistry Group, where Professor Mike Edmunds takes us on a journey outlining our current knowledge of the origin and distribution of the elements in the universe, as we try to push as far as we can into astronomical environments where complex chemistry is taking place. Currently we believe we have a remarkably good understanding of the processes and astronomical sites that have led to the formation of the elements in the periodic table. Except for hydrogen, some helium and a little lithium, all of them have been synthesised since the beginning of the universe. Recent spectroscopic observations to high redshifts are enabling us to follow their build up in galaxies from back in the earliest times to the present. The discovery of many planetary systems beyond the Solar System, and the investigation of dense interstellar environments, imply a huge unexplored range of chemical possibilities and may lead to profound implications for life in the Universe.
Mike Edmunds is Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University, and the immediate past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was educated at Cambridge, but has lived and worked in Wales for fifty years. His research career involved the determination and interpretation of the abundances of the chemical elements in the Universe – particularly through spectroscopy of galaxies - and investigation of the origin of interstellar dust. Later work has been in the history of astronomy, including the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism. He was a member of two UK Research Councils. He is a Vice-President of the Herschel Society and an Honorary Vice-President of the Society for the History of Astronomy. He can occasionally be seen in his one-man play about Newton - 'Sir Isaac Remembers…', and was the subject of BBC Radio 4’s 'The Life Scientific' in April 2024.
The lecture will be followed by a hot buffet, providing an opportunity to network with fellow members of the RSC. To enjoy the talk and the elegant surroundings of Burlington House please RSVP by emailing secretaryrsccm@gmail.com by Monday 21st October. Please also let us know the details of any dietary requirements if necessary.
There is the real and fascinating probability that in the future we will be confronted with extraterrestrial worlds whose physical conditions and compositions result in chemistries radically different from our own. Join us at this year’s Humphry Davy Lecture, in collaboration with the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) and RSC Astrochemistry Group, where Professor Mike Edmunds takes us on a journey outlining our current knowledge of the origin and distribution of the elements in the universe, as we try to push as far as we can into astronomical environments where complex chemistry is taking place. Currently we believe we have a remarkably good understanding of the processes and astronomical sites that have led to the formation of the elements in the periodic table. Except for hydrogen, some helium and a little lithium, all of them have been synthesised since the beginning of the universe. Recent spectroscopic observations to high redshifts are enabling us to follow their build up in galaxies from back in the earliest times to the present. The discovery of many planetary systems beyond the Solar System, and the investigation of dense interstellar environments, imply a huge unexplored range of chemical possibilities and may lead to profound implications for life in the Universe.
Mike Edmunds is Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University, and the immediate past-President of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was educated at Cambridge, but has lived and worked in Wales for fifty years. His research career involved the determination and interpretation of the abundances of the chemical elements in the Universe – particularly through spectroscopy of galaxies - and investigation of the origin of interstellar dust. Later work has been in the history of astronomy, including the ancient Greek Antikythera Mechanism. He was a member of two UK Research Councils. He is a Vice-President of the Herschel Society and an Honorary Vice-President of the Society for the History of Astronomy. He can occasionally be seen in his one-man play about Newton - 'Sir Isaac Remembers…', and was the subject of BBC Radio 4’s 'The Life Scientific' in April 2024.
The lecture will be followed by a hot buffet, providing an opportunity to network with fellow members of the RSC. To enjoy the talk and the elegant surroundings of Burlington House please RSVP by emailing secretaryrsccm@gmail.com by Monday 21st October. Please also let us know the details of any dietary requirements if necessary.
