In this talk, Dr. Lisa Messeri will discuss her anthropological research on astronomy and planetary science. As an anthropologist of science and technology, she spent time with scientists as they transformed data streaming through telescopes into worlds. How do scientists make our cosmos into a universe filled with potential worlds? What do they learn when they go to mountain top observatories? And why is one particular kind of world – an Earth-like exoplanet – prized above others? In exploring these questions from a humanistic perspective, Messeri shows how science is deeply social which makes it all the more wondrous, followed by telescope stargazing.

• Stargazing + Lecture Series at Columbia Details