Professor Jeremiah Paul Ostriker
On June 6, “The Science Tour in China—Shanghai,” including the astronomy session of ECNU’s Apricot Speech Platform, was held at ECNU. Professor Jeremiah Paul Ostriker, a researcher at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, was invited to deliver a speech.
Before the talk, Professor Lu Bai—a writer for iScientists, an Executive Vice-Dean of Tsinghua University’s School of Medicine, and an alumnus of ECNU—made a speech of his own to emphasize the importance of spreading scientific thoughts, and generating new ideas about scientific methods and technology. After delivering a welcome speech, Chen Qun, President of ECNU, expressed the willingess of ECNU to spread the knowledge and spirit of science through various platforms.
Chen Qun delivers a welcome speech.
Lu Bai emphasizes the importance of spreading scientific thoughts.
After that, Professor Ostriker gave his lecture, entitled Heart of Darkness in the Universe：Dark Matter and Dark Energy.
A prominent astrophysicist, Professor Ostriker taught at Princeton University, then at the University of Cambridge, for many years. He has been very influential in advancing the theory that most of the mass in the universe is not visible at all, but consists of dark matter. He has also conducted research focused on interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, cosmology, and black holes. Due to his outstanding scientific achievements and influence, he was awarded the U.S. National Medal of Science (2000) and the Royal Society Gold Medal (2004). As an additional honor, an asteroid, categorized as number 12146, was named after him.
Professor Ostriker illustrates the growth in human knowledge about the universe since 1550.
The lecture originated from Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe, a book co-written by Professor Ostriker and the British writer Simon Mitton. In his lecture, the 74-year-old scientist illustrated the growth in human knowledge about the universe since 1550, and told stories about himself and his friends in their pursuit of science, which touched audience members and received warm applause.
While interacting with the audience, professor Ostriker answered many questions, such as, “Where did the matter before the Big Bang come from?” “What is the evidence for the existence of dark energy?” and “What is the relationships between matter, space, and time, and how do they interact?”
Professor Ostriker interacts with the audience.
This activity was sponsored by iScientists, a Wechat public account, Shanghai Bairen Media, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Shanghai Association for Science & Technology, and ECNU. The Apricot Speech Platform, which was started in May 2012, takes its name from the story of Confucius teaching atop an apricot platform. “The Science Tour in China”, sponsored by iScientists, is dedicated to fostering new ways of spreading science and culture. Speakers for the Tour have been pioneers in their respective scientific fields during the past decade.
