National Astronomy Week 2020

Mars has been a huge inspiration for Science Fiction for centuries. This evening join Sue Nelson (Space Journalist & Author), Professor Robert Walsh (the International Astronomical Union & University of Central Lancashire) and Dr Elizabeth Stanway (University of Warwick) to explore the facts behind science fiction, from how humans could live on Mars, through to the search for alien life. 

** This event has run.  You can view a recording on our YouTube channel by clicking here.

About the Speakers:

Robert Walsh is professor of solar physics at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan), UK. He is a leading expert in understanding observations of our closest star and has delivered public outreach programmes to audiences across the world over the last three decades. He is a Science & Technology Facilities Council Leadership Fellow in Public Engagement and the UK National Outreach Co-ordinator for the International Astronomical Union. With other UCLan researchers, Robert has written a popular science book entitled Unmasked: the Science of Superheroes.

Dr Elizabeth Stanway is an Associate Professor at the University of Warwick. Her research focusses on the properties of stellar populations across cosmic time, including the potential impact of stellar explosions and star formation events on galactic habitability. She is a member of the Centre for Exoplanets and Habitability at Warwick, and also researches representations of astronomical phenomena and planetary habitability in science fiction.

Sue Nelson is an award-winning science and space journalist, co-host of the Space Boffins podcast and author of Wally Funk's Race for Space. She produces audio documentaries on space - including Radio 4's Moonbase 2029, World Service's Hey Sisters, Sew Sisters (about seamstresses in the space industry) and Audible's acclaimed series The Space Race - and makes short films for the European Space Agency about their missions. A former BBC science correspondent and avid sci-fi fan, Sue wrote to NASA as a teenager asking how to become an astronaut. Today she interviews astronauts instead but has been on a Zero G flight and experienced the next best thing.

Hosts:  Shaaron Leverment & Sue Nelson