The Royal Astronomical Society is pleased to announce that our free Public Talks for the 2024-25 season will take place at Burlington House at 1pm and 6pm. Please check the schedule as some talks may be online-only due to speaker availability.
Each session consists of a 45 minute talk & a 15 minute Q&A session
Session at 1-2pm: To register for the 1pm hybrid talk.
Session at 6-7pm: To register for the 6pm hybrid talk.
The Fermi Paradox — Where are the Aliens?
One of the most exciting discoveries in astronomy in recent decades has been the realisation that planets are common companions of stars. This raises an exciting possibility: that many of these planets could harbour life, and some could even be the home to advanced technological civilizations – perhaps far more advance than our own. However, we see no evidence for extraterrestrial technological civilisations, an apparent paradox famously articulated by the physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950. In this talk, we will explore attempted solutions to the Fermi Paradox and argue that, despite the vast number of planets, extraterrestrial technological civilisations are probably very rare, if not non-existent, in the Galaxy.
About our speaker:
Ian Crawford is a Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology at Birkbeck, University of London. His research activities mostly lie in the fields of planetary science, especially lunar science and exploration, and astrobiology, the search for life in the Universe. He has long had an interest in the future of space exploration and is convinced that space exploration and development will prove to be of central importance for the future of. He is the author of over 200 peer-reviewed research papers in the fields of astronomy, humanity planetary science, astrobiology and space exploration. In 2021, Ian was awarded the Royal Astronomical Society's Service Award for Geophysics; the citation refers to his long-standing promotion of lunar science and human space exploration, his role as a mentor for young planetary scientists, and other contributions to the planetary science community.
This event will be hybrid and takes place at the RAS Lecture Theatre at Burlington House, Piccadilly, online via Zoom, and streamed live on YouTube. Zoom links will be emailed 2 hours before the talk begins.