BLACK HOLES AND OTHER COSMIC SURPRISES

Marcus Chown and Chris Lintott will be ‘In Conversation’ discussing black holes, accidental astronomical discoveries and living in a universe stranger than anything we could possibly imagine.

When the phenomenon of black holes was first proposed in 1916, it defied scientific understanding so much that Albert Einstein dismissed it as too ridiculous to be true. But within three decades scientists had proven otherwise and on 10th April 2019, a team of astronomers made history by producing the first image of a black hole.
In his new book ‘A Crack In Everything’ Marcus Chown interviews many of the scientists who made the key discoveries and tells the story of how black holes came in from the cold and took cosmic centre stage.

In Chris Lintott’s latest book, ‘Our Accidental Universe’, he takes us on an astonishing tour of bizarre accidents, big characters, and human error to tell the story of some of the most important astronomical events of the past hundred years. As new telescopes are built on mountaintops and in deserts around the world, aiming to transform our view of the universe once more, Chris attempts to show us that keeping an open mind will benefit us all - whatever might still be out there for us to find.

MARCUS CHOWN

Marcus studied under Richard Feynman at the California Institute of Technology, graduating with a Master of Science in astrophysics in 1982. He is a broadcaster and an award-winning writer having written several books, including; The Sunday Times Science Book of the Year ‘The Ascent of Gravity’, ‘Quantum Theory Cannot Hurt You’, ‘The One Thing You Need to Know’, and his latest ‘A Crack in Everything’.
Marcus also won The Bookseller Digital Innovation of the Year award for his iPad app Solar System. He was also a regular guest on the BBC4 comedy-science show, It’s Only A Theory, with Andy Hamilton and Reginald D. Hunter, and often appears on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch.

PROF. CHRIS LINTOTT

Chris is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, where he is also a Research Fellow at New College. His work involves hunting for unusual objects, from interstellar asteroids to oddly shaped galaxies, using machine learning and often collaborating with the public via ‘citizen science’ projects on the Zooniverse platform.
He is best known as the co-presenter of the BBC’s Sky at Night program, and is also the 39th Gresham Professor of Astronomy, delivering free talks for the public in the City of London and online. Chris has written several books including ‘Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe’, ‘The Cosmic Tourist’, ‘The Crowd And The Cosmos’ and his latest ‘Our Accidental Universe’.

Both Marcus and Chris will be signing copies of their latest books, which will be available to purchase on the night. This event will take place upstairs in the Nightingale Room at The Grand Central, Brighton. Unfortuantely there is no wheelchair access.

• DOORS OPEN: 7:00pm
• EVENT STARTS: 7:30pm
• AUDIENCE Q&A: 8:30pm
• BOOK SIGNING: 9pm (books available to purchase on the night)

Host or Publisher Brighton Skeptics in the Pub