Priyamvada Natarajan Professor of Astronomy and of Physics, Yale University Priyamvada Natarajan’s research is focused on exotica in the Universe-dark matter, dark energy and black holes. She is noted for her key contributions to two of the most challenging problems in cosmology: mapping the distribution of dark matter and tracing the growth history of black holes. Her work using gravitational lensing has provided a deeper understanding of the granularity of dark matter in clusters of galaxies and offers a novel way to unravel the nature of dark matter. Natarajan also works on the assembly and accretion history of black holes. Deeply invested in the public dissemination of science, she serves on the Advisory Board of NOVA ScienceNow and is a fervent proponent of numerical literacy. Her first book, Mapping the Heavens: Radical Ideas That Reveal The Cosmos, published last year was received to great critical acclaim, winning an honorable mention from the Association of American Publishers, and as a finalist for the Top 10 Science Books by Physics World. She is also a published poet. A professor in the Departments of Astronomy and Physics at Yale University, Priyamvada is also the Director of the Franke Program in Science and the Humanities. She is currently the Chair of the Division of Astrophysics of the American Physical Society. Recipient of many awards and honors in recognition of her contributions to science, she also holds the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professorship at the Dark Center, Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark and an Honorary Professorship at the University of Delhi, India. Priyamvada has undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics from MIT. She is also interested in the history and philosophy of science as well as technology and public policy and was enrolled in the MIT Program in Science, Technology & Society, where she was awarded a Master’s Degree (S.M.), and the MIT Program in Technology and Public Policy. She did her graduate work in theoretical astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge in England, where she was a member of Trinity College and was elected to a Title A Research Fellowship. She was the first woman in Astrophysics to be elected a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. Participant In: Women and Science Saturday, April 26, 2014 2:30-4:30 pm Past Event An ancient Egyptian hieroglyph at Saqqara declared Merit-Ptah as “the Chief Physician.” 4700 years after her achievement, we ask: How are women in science faring? It is a well-documented phenomenon that for all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects, the gender gap widens in the progression from undergraduate study, through graduate and post-doctoral work,… read more » Knowledge and Limitations Saturday, September 20, 2014 2:30-4:30pm Past Event Watch the video » What do we know about the universe and how do we know it? As John Locke would ask, what are the extent and limitations of human knowledge? Is our understanding of the laws of nature bound by limits on what the mind can grasp, or can formulate linguistically, or are there inherent limitations of physical… read more » Science and the Big Questions: Roundtable Series on the Physical and Spiritual World, the Brain-Mind Connection, and Human Development and Genetics Through 2015 Past Event The Helix Center is pleased to announce receipt of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation in support of a series of fourteen roundtables addressing big questions in the physical, natural, and biological sciences and the humanities. The topics are: Knowledge and Limitations; The Span of Infinity; Complexity and Emergence; The Search for Immortality; The Sublime Experience; The Meditative State; The… read more » The Completeness of Physics Saturday, May 12th, 2018, 2:30pm-4:30pm Past Event Watch the video » Science can stake its claim to truth on the evidence of its empirical success accounting for reality. Does it therefore follow, necessarily, that science can lay claim to its universality? Does reality cohere in such a way that we are ultimately seeking a reductionistic account of it in toto, as some would argue is promised… read more » Life in the Universe 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 9th, 2019 Past Event Watch the video » With billions of stars and galaxies in the observable universe, the possibility of life elsewhere has intrigued both scientists and philosophers alike. In this roundtable, we will explore the notion of life in the universe and what it might look like elsewhere. See recent news from one of our participants: https://news.yale.edu/2019/02/04/yale-astrophysicists-prediction-comes-pass-20-years-later
Women and Science Saturday, April 26, 2014 2:30-4:30 pm Past Event An ancient Egyptian hieroglyph at Saqqara declared Merit-Ptah as “the Chief Physician.” 4700 years after her achievement, we ask: How are women in science faring? It is a well-documented phenomenon that for all STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects, the gender gap widens in the progression from undergraduate study, through graduate and post-doctoral work,… read more »
Knowledge and Limitations Saturday, September 20, 2014 2:30-4:30pm Past Event Watch the video » What do we know about the universe and how do we know it? As John Locke would ask, what are the extent and limitations of human knowledge? Is our understanding of the laws of nature bound by limits on what the mind can grasp, or can formulate linguistically, or are there inherent limitations of physical… read more »
Science and the Big Questions: Roundtable Series on the Physical and Spiritual World, the Brain-Mind Connection, and Human Development and Genetics Through 2015 Past Event The Helix Center is pleased to announce receipt of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation in support of a series of fourteen roundtables addressing big questions in the physical, natural, and biological sciences and the humanities. The topics are: Knowledge and Limitations; The Span of Infinity; Complexity and Emergence; The Search for Immortality; The Sublime Experience; The Meditative State; The… read more »
The Completeness of Physics Saturday, May 12th, 2018, 2:30pm-4:30pm Past Event Watch the video » Science can stake its claim to truth on the evidence of its empirical success accounting for reality. Does it therefore follow, necessarily, that science can lay claim to its universality? Does reality cohere in such a way that we are ultimately seeking a reductionistic account of it in toto, as some would argue is promised… read more »
Life in the Universe 2:30 pm on Saturday, March 9th, 2019 Past Event Watch the video » With billions of stars and galaxies in the observable universe, the possibility of life elsewhere has intrigued both scientists and philosophers alike. In this roundtable, we will explore the notion of life in the universe and what it might look like elsewhere. See recent news from one of our participants: https://news.yale.edu/2019/02/04/yale-astrophysicists-prediction-comes-pass-20-years-later