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Science and Theater
new one-act dramas
Monday, May 19, 6pm
Elebash Recital Hall
Free
| Join us for a performance of
two new one-act dramas about the pioneers of physics.
Robert Marc Friedman's "Remembering Miss Meitner" takes as its subject the role of Lise Meitner in the splitting of the atomic nucleus. Lauren Gunderson's "Background" is a dramatization of the story of cosmologist Ralph Alpher and the origins of the universe. Both plays will be performed by Break A Leg Productions. |
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Co-sponsored by the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center and the Science Center.
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"Remembering Miss Meitner"
Robert Marc Friedman is a professor of the history of science at the University of Oslo, Norway, and author of Politics of Excellence: Behind the Nobel Prize in Science.
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"Background"
Lauren Gunderson wrote her award-winning one-act play, about the scientists who developed the Big Bang Theory, while she was a student at Emory University.
| Ralph Alpher
In 1948, a young Ralph Alpher presented his doctoral thesis. It explored the origin of the chemical elements very early in a Universe that began with a bang - the Big Bang. This monumental work lead to the conclusion that the cooling glow of this primordial fireball still permeates the sky. |
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(Alpher's) continuing work with Robert Herman refined ideas on the synthesis of the elements, ultimately explaining where over 99% of the visible Universe came from. They also predicted both the current temperature and nature of the Big Bang's relic radiation - but they were well ahead of their time. Ralph and his co-workers couldn't convince observational astronomers to look for this radiation, and it wasn't detected until 1964 - by accident.
The discovery of the cosmic background radiation not only vindicated Ralph's work, it put the Big Bang theory at the forefront of cosmology - and turned cosmology into a serious science.
Ralph's work was listed in the American Physical Society News under the Top Ten Astronomical Triumphs of the Millenium. -- Susan French
Source:
http://www.dudleyobservatory.org/History/history_alpher.htm
More Information
- Break A Leg Productions http://www.breakalegproductions.com/
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For further information contact Brian Schwartz, bschwartz@gc.cuny.eduAll events are held at The Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Ave (at 34th Street)
The Science and the Arts series is presented by the Science Center and is part of the Continuing Education and Public Programs at The Graduate Center. For tickets contact: phone: (212) 817-8215, email: continuinged@gc.cuny.edu or visit the web site http://web.gc.cuny.edu/cepp
Free and open to the public.