Date/Time: Thursday 9 May 2024, 5.30pm

Venue: Curtis Auditorium, Herschel Building, Newcastle University

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All our events remain free and open to all, but pre-booking is required. Bookings for this lecture will open at 10.00am on 2 May. To reserve your place click the booking link below or telephone our booking voicemail line 0191 208 6136.

Dark matter is invisible but plays a highly visible role in the evolution of spacetime, while challenging our conventional notions of what ‘stuff’ is. Our speaker will reflect on the scientific questions raised by our cosmic search for understanding, as well as what it means to do this work as a storytelling species.

Biography

Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an associate professor of physics and astronomy and core faculty in women’s and gender studies at the University of New Hampshire. Her research in theoretical physics focuses on cosmology, neutron stars, and dark matter. She additionally does research in Black feminist science, technology, and society studies. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein is also a columnist for New Scientist and Physics World. Nature recognized her as one of 10 people who shaped science in 2020, and Essence magazine has recognized her as one of “15 Black Women Who Are Paving the Way in STEM and Breaking Barriers.” A co-founder of Particles for Justice, she received the 2017 LGBT+ Physicists Acknowledgement of Excellence Award for her contributions to improving conditions for marginalized people in physics and the 2021 American Physical Society Edward A. Bouchet Award for her contributions to particle cosmology. Her first book The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred won the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the science and technology category and was named a Best Book of 2021 by Publishers Weekly, Smithsonian Magazine, and Kirkus. It has been a finalist for multiple awards including the 2022 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. The Disordered Cosmos was also longlisted for the OCM Bocas Prize in Caribbean Literature. She is now working on her second book The Edge of Space-Time. Originally from East L.A., she divides her time between the New Hampshire Seacoast and Cambridge, Massachusetts.