Club Meeting location changed
Schedule
Fri, 14 Apr, 2023 at 07:00 pm
Location
The University of Oklahoma Libraries | Norman, OK
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Our meetings are free and open to the public.This Month's Program
Our program will be a tour of the collections of the History of Science Department at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Kerry Magruder, Curator of the OU History of Science Collection (https://www.ou.edu/cas/hsci/people/faculty/kerry-magruder) will show original rare works from the history of astronomy including first editions of Copernicus, Kepler, Tycho, Galileo, Newton, the great star atlases of Bayer, Hevelius, Flamsteed, and Bode, as well as lesser-known but fascinating works like 19th-century constellation cards and planispheres, and original historical astronomical instruments.
Will be a presentation by Dr. Dominique Segura-Cox, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin, who will be appearing over Zoom. Dr. Segura-Cox is a dynamic and enthusiastic speaker who also regularly collaborates with radio astronomer Dr. John Tobin, who was at the University of Oklahoma for several years before moving to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Dr. Segura-Cox's talk is titled, "A Journey Through the Many Size Scales of Star and Planet Formation." Stars and planets form in molecular clouds, which are incredibly vast and fluffy reservoirs of gas and dust in space that can each give birth to hundreds of stellar systems (Tobin et al. 2020). Dr. Segura-Cox uses radio telescopes to study how gravity causes molecular clouds to collapse into smaller and smaller structures to eventually form stars. Planets are born within much smaller-scale disks that surround young stars. Recent evidence shows that planets start to form while stars themselves are still growing and called protostars (Segura-Cox et al. 2020). Protostars and their disks at this stage are still feeding from larger-scale structures within the molecular clouds (Pineda et al. 2020), and the larger environment may even influence the chemical composition of still-forming planets. The connection between protostar, planet-forming disk, and larger-scale environment at the dawn of planet formation is becoming more clear. Dominique will highlight some beautiful observations of the many size scales of star and planet formation and will give some sneak peaks of new projects she has have been working on to connect the various size scales.
In addition, Dominique is also happy to answer questions not just about her science, but also what it was like for her as a first-generation college student adapting to higher education. In her own words: “I failed a few physics exams and got some C’s in intro classes before I really got the hang of it, but I'm still around! I think not enough scientists are willing to share their moments of failure, but it's a good reminder for everyone that we're just people too and that you don't have to be perfect to do science."
2023 Membership Renewal
April 1st begins the Club membership year and if you have not previously renewed for 2023, you should have received your renewal reminder via email.
Just a reminder only the Club Meeting is open to the public. Please do not wander around the rest of the museum. The restrooms are the only exception.
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Where is it happening?
The University of Oklahoma Libraries, 401 W Brooks St, Norman, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
