Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
July 19, 2016, Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA

Priyamvada Natarajan, Ph.D., Professor of Astronomy and Physics, Yale University.
Author, Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos. Dr. Natarajan is also Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professor of the Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Honorary Professor for life at the University of Delhi, India. She is also an advisor for Nova Science Now. Dr. Natarajan's website

Dr. Natarajan's research focus is black hole physics. In this program she discusses both her new book on how so many of today's major scientific theories were initially resisted, and her own work on black holes and the mapping of dark matter in the universe (two of those "radical" ideas). She explains how she and her colleagues construct dark matter maps of clusters of galaxies, the largest known repositories of dark matter, and how gravitational lensing is used to test evolving dark energy models. Scroll down for selected list of awards.

Prof. Natarajan's NYRB articles

• 06/09/16 After Einstein: The Dark Mysteries
  
• 11/12/2015 The New Beyond
• 05/12/2015 Revelations from Outer Space
• 10/23/14 What Scientists Really Do

Distinctions and Awards

• elected Fellow, American Physical Society
• Guggenheim Fellowship, 2010-2011
• Radcliffe Fellow, 2008-2009
• elected Fellow, Explorers Club
• India Empire NRI award for Achievement in the Sciences
• Caroline Herschel Distinguished Visitor at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore (2011-2012)