Future Fridays
Upcoming Speakers | Past Speakers
Chabot Space & Science Center presents
a series of community conversations
with science and futurist thought leaders
- Tickets: $20 Members / $23 Guests
($29 at the door, no discounts & subject to availability) - Series Tickets (all four speakers): $66 Members / $78 Guests
Ticket proceeds help underwrite the educational programming at Chabot.
Speaker Series tickets make great gifts for friends and teachers!
This series is proudly sponsored by Rudney Associates
Upcoming Speakers for 2012
- March 23 (6pm - 7:30pm)
Brian David Johnson
FutureCaster, Intel
SciFi Author, The Tomorrow Project Anthology
Are you an active participant in your future?
What kind of future do you want to live in?
What kind of futures should we avoid?
How is Intel using Science Fiction to design better technologies?
Intel's Futurist Brian David Johnson will explore these questions and his futurecasting work.
- April 20 (6pm - 7:30pm)
Ben Burtt
Sound Director, Designer & Engineer,
LucasFilms/Pixar
SOLD OUT!
"From the Deathstar to Wall-E and Beyond!"
Ever wonder who created the voice for R2D2, Wall-E, or Darth Vadar's heavy breathing? Join us for a rousing evening of dynamic conversation about the science of noise and sound effects from the one and only Ben Burtt, Sound Designer and Director, Lucasfilm/Pixar.
Ben has won four Academy Awards for Sound Effects in such films as E.T., Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, for which he created the sound of the lightsabers by mixing the humming sound of his TV set - tuned between channels - with the sound of an old 35mm projector. Ben was a Physics major and has enjoyed an illustrious career in the motion picture industry for over 30 years. "Sound Effects in the movies are there to create an illusion," says Burtt, "But behind all this sonic "make-believe”, I exploit scientific principles to create special noises."
- May 11 (6pm - 7:30pm)
Bill Nye the Climate Guy
Scientist, Engineer, Comedian, Author, and Inventor
SOLD OUT!
Enjoy an entertaining evening with Bill Nye the Climate Guy - scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, and a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society and to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. And dare we say - Change the World!
Bill Nye is also the Executive Director of the Planetary Society, the world’s largest space interest organization. He is the driving force behind Chabot's Bill Nye's Climate Lab exhibition, where visitors learn how to be a climate scientist, while showcasing the humor and education skills of the Emmy Award-winning personality.
- November 2 (6pm - 7:30pm)
Ray Jayawardhana
Professor, Observational Astrophysics
Author, Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond our Solar System
TICKETS »
Soon astronomers expect to find alien "Earths" by the dozens in orbit around distant suns. Before the decade is out, telltale signs that these planets harbor life may be found. If they are, the ramifications for all areas of human thought - from religion and philosophy to art and biology - will be breathtaking. In Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets - and alien life - beyond our solar system.
Ray Jayawardhana is a professor and Canada Research Chair in observational astrophysics at the University of Toronto. A graduate of Yale and Harvard and a recent winner of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, he uses many of the world’s largest telescopes to explore planetary origins and diversity. He is an award-winning writer whose articles have appeared in The Economist, New York Times, Scientific American, Astronomy and Muse, and the author of Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life Beyond Our Solar System (2011). Wired magazine put it best: "As astronomers go, RayJay is a rock star."
Past Speakers
- March 25, 2011: Dr. Michio Kaku
Dr. Kaku visited just few days after the release of his new book Physics of the Future: How Science Will Change Daily Life by 2100. Dr. Kaku is the author of numerous previous books including Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos, and Physics of the Impossible. Dr. Kaku is a frequent guest on popular news and late night shows including Conan, Good Morning America and others, and is the host of the PBS series Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers.
- May 6, 2011: Mary Roach
Mary Roach joined us to celebrate the release of the paperback version of her bestselling book: Packing for Mars. Ms. Roach is a columnist and popular science writer and author of previous books Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, and Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex. - September 9, 2011: Bill McKibben
Bill McKibben is an American environmentalist and writer who frequently writes about global warming and alternative energy and advocates for more localized economies. His 2010 book Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet led the Boston Globe to call him "probably the nation's leading environmentalist" and Time magazine described him as "the world's best green journalist.” In 2009 he led the organization of 350.org, which coordinated what Foreign Policy magazine called "the largest ever global coordinated rally of any kind," with 5,200 simultaneous demonstrations in 181 countries. The magazine named him to its inaugural list of the 100 most important global thinkers, and MSN named him one of the dozen most influential men of 2009.
- November 4, 2011: Al Worden
Al Worden flew to the moon on the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. He piloted the Command Module alone for three days orbiting the moon, while his fellow astronauts collected samples and conducted experiments on the lunar surface. Nine months after his return from the moon, Worden received a phone call telling him he was fired and ordering him out of his office by the end of the week. He refused to leave. What happened in those nine months, from being honored with parades and meetings with world leaders to being unceremoniously fired, has been a source of much speculation for four decades. Worden has never before told the entire story around the dramatic events that shook NASA and ended his spaceflight career. In his upcoming book, Falling to Earth, Worden recounts them fully for the first time. It's a candid account of what it was like to be an Apollo astronaut, with all its glory but also its pitfalls.