Feeling Small in a Big Cosmos

(In-Person Event)

Shane Larson will discuss how we came from a time when we believed Earth and humanity were the center of all things, to where we now understand that we are one small part of the Cosmos.

Staring out into the Universe has the power to simultaneously make you feel small, but empowered. On the one hand, we are deeply aware of the notion that we are small lifeforms on an insignificant speck of dust in some lonely corner of the Cosmos. That overwhelming sense of smallness is at great odds with the realization that we are capable of unravelling and exposing the deepest mysteries of the Cosmos. The ability to understand the Cosmos can make us feel big. We live at a unique moment in history -- we are the first humans to ever know that we are deeply connected to the stars themselves. It is easy to forget how hard it was to win that knowledge.

The road to understanding our place in the Cosmos has been a long and tangled journey. We are stardust, wrought into complex machines of atoms that are capable of pondering the Universe itself. When faced with the Cosmic vastness, it is easy to forget how awesome it is that we can understand -- that is the hallmark of our relationship with the Cosmos. In this chat, we'll examine some of the story of how newfound knowledge has continually forced us to abandon cherished ideas about the Universe, leading us from a time when we believed Earth and humanity were the center of all things, to today, where we are one small part of the greater Cosmos. 

Shane Larson is a research professor of physics at Northwestern University, where he is the Associate Director of CIERA (Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics). He works in the field of gravitational wave astrophysics, specializing in studies of compact stars, binaries, and the galaxy. He works in gravitational wave astronomy with both the ground-based LIGO project, and future space-based observatory LISA. He was formerly a tenured associate professor of physics at Utah State University. He is an award winning teacher, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is an avid amateur astronomer, observing with two homebuilt Dobsonians, a 12.5" named EQUINOX and a 22" named COSMOS MARINER. He contributes regularly to a public science blog at writescience.wordpress.com, and tweets with the handle @sciencejedi .

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