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Harvard Science Book Talks are a collaboration between the Harvard University Division of Science, Harvard Library, and Harvard Book Store.
The series features lectures by, and conversations with, authors of recently published books on science-related topics, written with a non-specialist audience in mind. Some of the authors we invite are academics or research scientists, while others are science writers and journalists. We are casting a wide net across areas of human endeavor which are grouped under the aegis of Science. We are interested in the history, philosophy, methodology, and cultures of the various science fields: their triumphs and failures, their controversies, biographies of the people involved, important discoveries, and great feats of human imagination and ingenuity. We are equally interested in in-depth explorations of various topics in a manner that makes science accessible to the curious non-specialist. Our goal is to inform, inspire, entertain, provide food for thought, and encourage audiences to engage in public discourse about science, the role that it can—and does—play in our society, and its potential for furthering human progress. The in-person talks, held at Harvard Science Center, are followed by a small reception and book signing in Cabot Science Library. On rare occasions, we may also hold special, ticketed, events in other venues. For more information and to be added to our notification list, please contact us at science_lectures@fas.harvard.edu. |
Most talks are recorded: please go over to our YouTube channel or use the links, below.
2023/24- May 13, 2024: Sean Carroll, "Quanta and Fields: The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" [info coming soon]
- May 8, 2024: Venki Ramakrishnan, "Why We Die: The New Science of Aging and the Quest for Immortality" [info coming soon]
- Apr 17, 2024: Leslie Valiant, "The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness" [more info]
- Apr 3, 2024: Matt Strassler, in conversation with Greg Kestin, "Waves in an Impossible Sea: How Everyday Life Emerges from the Cosmic Ocean" [more info]
- Mar 28, 2024: Paul Halpern, in conversation with Jacob Barandes, "The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes" [more info]
- Mar 19, 2024: Nicholas Money, "Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines: Our Lifelong Relationship with Fungi," in conversation with Donald Pfister, [more info]
- Feb 19, 2024: Camilla Nord, "The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health" [more info]
- Feb 8, 2024: Avi Loeb, "Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars" [more info]
- Dec 12, 2023: Robert Cahn and Chris Quig, "Grace in all Simplicity: Beauty, Truth, and Wonders on the Path to the Higgs Boson and New Laws of Nature" [more info]
- Nov 30, 2023: Joshua N. Winn, "The Little Book of Exoplanets" [more info]
- Nov 8, 2023: Kip Thorne and Lia Halloran, "The Warped Side of Our Universe: An Odyssey through Black Holes, Wormholes, Time Travel, and Gravitational Waves" [more info]
- Nov 7, 2023: Carl Safina, in conversation with J. Drew Lanham, "Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe" [more info]
- Oct 19, 2023: Jim Al-Khalili, "The Joy of Science" [more info]
- Oct 4, 2023: J. Craig Venter, in conversation with Dimitar Sasselov, "The Voyage of Sorcerer II: The Expedition That Unlocked the Secrets of the Ocean’s Microbiome" [more info]
- Sep 21, 2023: Erik Hoel, "The World Behind the World: Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science" [more info]
- July 28, 2028: Andrew Pontzen, in conversation with Atınç Çağan Şengül, "The Universe in a Box: Simulations and the Quest to Code the Cosmos" [more info]
- May 3, 2023: Chris Wiggins & Matthew L. Jones, "How Data Happened: A History from the Age of Reason to the Age of Algorithms" [more info]
- Apr 19, 2023: Phil Plait, in conversation with Jessie Christiansen, "Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to the Universe" [more info]
- Apr 3, 2023: John W. Reid, in conversation with M.R. O'Connor, "Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet" [more info]
- Mar 31, 2023: Bruce Schneier, in conversation with Hiawatha Bray, "A Hacker's Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society's Rules, and How to Bend Them Back" [more info]
- Mar 20, 2023: Bethany Brookshire, in conversation with Harriet Ritvo, "Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains" [more info]
- Mar 10, 2023: Felix Flicker, in conversation with Norman Yao, "The Magick of Physics: Uncovering the Fantastical Phenomena in Everyday Life" [more info]
- Feb 23, 2023: Harold McGee, in conversation with David Weitz, "Nose Dive: A Field Guide to the World's Smells" [more info]
- Feb 8, 2023: Simon Clark, in conversation with Jordan Harrod, "Firmament: The Hidden Science of Weather, Climate Change and the Air That Surrounds Us" [more info]
- Feb 3, 2023: Sean Carroll, "The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion" [more info]
- Jan 24, 2023: Matthew Cobb, in conversation with Kevin Davies, "As Gods: A Moral History of the Genetic Age" [more info]
- Jan 18, 2023 (RESCHEDULED): Suzie Sheehy, in conversation with Gregory Kestin, "The Matter of Everything: How Curiosity, Physics, and Improbable Experiments Changed the World" [more info]
- Nov 29, 2022: Raghuveer Parthasarathy, in conversation with Philip Nelson, "So Simple a Beginning: How Four Physical Principles Shape Our Living World" [more info]
- Nov 10, 2022: Peter Pesic, in conversation with Logan McCarty, "Sounding Bodies: Music and the Making of Biomedical Science" [more info]
- Oct 24, 2022: Peter Fisher, in conversation with Melissa Franklin, "What Is Dark Matter?" [more info]
- Oct 12, 2022: Temple Grandin, "Visual Thinking : The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions" - video of this event is not available [more info]
- Oct 3, 2022: Jurgen Renn, "The Evolution of Knowledge: Rethinking Science for the Anthropocene" [more info]
- Sep 30, 2022: Nick Lane, in conversation with Logan McCarty, "Transformer : The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death" [more info]
- Sep 13, 2022: Randall Munroe, in conversation with Jonathan Zittrain, "What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions" - Please note: this event was not recorded. [more info]
- Sep 7, 2022: James Morton Turner, in conversation with Adam Rome, "Charged: A History of Batteries and Lessons for a Clean Energy Future" [more info]
2021/22
- July 19, 2022: Alain Bécoulet, in conversation with Nathaniel J. Fisch, "Star Power: ITER and the International Quest for Fusion Energy" [more info]
- June 30, 2022: Rebecca Wragg Sykes, in conversation with Julie Lawrence, "Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art" [more info]
- June 21, 2022: Stephanie D. Preston, in conversation with Garet Lahvis, "The Altruistic Urge: Why We’re Driven to Help Others" [more info]
- June 7, 2022: David I. Kaiser, in conversation with Amanda Gefter, "Quantum Legacies: Dispatches from an Uncertain World" [more info]
- May 19, 2022: John Colapinto, in conversation with Gregory Kestin, "This Is the Voice" [more info]
- May 9, 2022: W.A. Harris, in conversation with Joshua Sanes, "Zero to Birth: How the Human Brain Is Built" [more info]
- Apr 19, 2022: Frans de Waal, "Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist" [more info] Please note: this event will not be available on video.
- Apr 13, 2022: Arik Kershenbaum, in conversation with Lou Gross, "The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens--and Ourselves" [more info]
- Apr 8, 2022: Erez Yoeli and Moshe Hoffman, Moderated by Andrew McAfee, "Hidden Games: The Surprising Power of Game Theory to Explain Irrational Human Behavior" [more info]
- Apr 4, 2022: Stephen Fleming, in conversation with Elizabeth Phelps, "Know Thyself: The Science of Self-Awareness" [more info]
- Mar 24, 2022: Nicole Yunger Halpern, in conversation with Jacob Barandes, "Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday's Tomorrow" [more info]
- Mar 15, 2022: Anil Seth, in conversation with Gregory Kestin, "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness" PLEASE NOTE: this event has been canceled!
- Mar 9, 2022: Kathryn Paige Harden, in conversation with Benjamin Neale, "The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality" [more info]
- Feb 28, 2022: Carles Lalueza-Fox, in conversation with David Reich, "Inequality: A Genetic History" [more info]
- Feb 10, 2022: Michael Dine, in conversation with Lisa Randall, "This Way to the Universe: A Theoretical Physicist's Journey to the Edge of Reality" [more info]
- Jan 27, 2022: Leonard Mlodinow, in conversation with Nick Owchar, "Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking" [more info]
- Jan 10, 2022: Nina Kraus, in conversation with Aniruddh Patel, "Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World" [more info]
- Dec 1, 2021: Helen Scales, in conversation with Kristina Gjerde, "The Brilliant Abyss: Exploring the Majestic Hidden Life of the Deep Ocean, and the Looming Threat That Imperils It." [more info]
- Nov 16, 2021: Alexander Rehding and Daniel Chua, moderated by Melissa Franklin, "Alien Listening: Voyager's Golden Record and Music from Earth." [more info]
- Nov 10, 2021: Ritu Raman, in conversation with Jermy Matthews, "Biofabrication." [more info]
- Nov 1, 2021: Marcus du Sautoy, in conversation with Melissa Franklin, "Thinking Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life." [more info]
- Oct 29, 2021: Antonio Damasio, "Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious." [more info]
- Oct 20, 2021: Stephon Alexander, in conversation with C. Brandon Ogbunu, "Fear of a Black Universe: An Outsider's Guide to the Future of Physics." [more info]
- Oct 12, 2021: David Wallace, in conversation with Jacob Barandes, "Philosophy of Physics: A Very Short Introduction." [more info]
- Oct 5, 2021: Mary Roach, in conversation with Lindsey Fitzharris, "Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law" and "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers" [more info]
- Sep 22, 2021: Bill Schutt, in conversation with Patricia J. Wynne, "Pump: A Natural History of the Heart." [more info]
- Sep 13, 2021: Adam Kucharski, in conversation with William Hanage, "The Rules of Contagion: Why Things Spread—And Why They Stop." [more info]
- Aug 11, 2021: Charles Seife, "Hawking Hawking: The Selling of a Scientific Celebrity." [more info]
- July 20, 2021: Scott A. Small, in conversation with Sue Halpern, "Forgetting: The Benefits of Not Remembering." [more info]
- June 21, 2021: Karl Desseiroth, in conversation with Catherine Dulac, "Projections: A Story of Human Emotions." [more info]
- June 7, 2021: Andrew H. Knoll, in conversation with Peter Girguis, "A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters." [more info]
- June 1, 2021: Veronica O’Keane, in conversation with Ted Dinan, "A Sense of Self: Memory, the Brain, and Who We Are." [more info]
- May 26, 2021: Jordan Ellenberg, in conversation with Cathy O'Neil, "Shape: The Hidden Geometry of Information, Biology, Strategy, Democracy, and Everything Else." [more info]
- May 25, 2021: Carlo Rovelli, in conversation with Katie Mack, "Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution." [more info]
- May 20, 2021: Russell A. Poldrack, in conversation with Elizabeth Phelps, "Hard to Break: Why our Brains Make Habits Stick." [more info]
- May 18, 2021: David Eagleman, "Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain." [more info]
- May 14, 2021: David Sulzer, "Music, Math, and Mind: The Physics and Neuroscience of Music." [more info]
- May 11, 2021: Kate Darling, in conversation with Rana el Kaliouby, "The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots." [more info]
- May 10, 2021: Alessio Fasano and Susie Flaherty, "Gut Feelings: The Microbiome and Our Health." [more info]
- Apr 27, 2021: Rana el Kaliouby, "Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology." [more info]
- Apr 23, 2021: Andrew Steele, "Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old." [more info]
- Apr 21, 2021: Annalee Newitz, in conversation Arkady Martine, "Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age." [more info]
- Apr 19, 2021: Alastair McGee and Dani Anguiano, "Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy." [more info]
- Apr 2, 2021: Steven Weinberg, in conversation with Andrew Strominger, "The First Three Minutes: A Modern View of the Origin of the Universe" and "Third Thoughts." [more info]
- Mar 30, 2021: Paul Nurse, "What is Life?: Five Great Ideas in Biology." [more info]
- Mar 22, 2021: Euan Angus Ashley, in conversation with Siddhartha Mukherjee, "The Genome Odyssey: Medical Mysteries and the Incredible Quest to Solve Them." [more info]
- Mar 19, 2021: Walter Isaacson, in conversation with David Liu, "The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race." [more info]
- Mar 11, 2021: Robert Stickgold and Antonio Zadra, "When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep." [more info]
- Mar 9, 2021: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, in conversation with Kiese Laymon, "The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred." [more info]
- Mar 2, 2021: Alan Lightman, in conversation with Janna Levin,"Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings." [more info]
- Feb 22, 2021: Bill Gates, interviewed by Savannah Guthrie, "How to Avoid a Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need." [more info]. Please note: this event was not recorded.
- Feb 15, 2021: Elizabeth Kolbert, in conversation with Amy Brady, "Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future." [more info]
- Feb 9, 2021: Kevin Davies, in conversation with Andrew Berry, "Editing Humanity: The CRISPR Revolution and the New Era of Genome Editing." [more info]
- Feb 4, 2021: Matt Parker, "Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World." [more info]
- Feb 1, 2021: Robert J. Lefkowitz, in conversation with Randy Hall, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Stockholm: The Adrenaline-Fueled Adventures of an Accidental Scientist." [more info]
- Jan 5, 2021: Daniel Lieberman, "Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do is Healthy and Rewarding.." [more info]
- Dec 17, 2020: Katie Mack, in conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson, "The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)" [more info]
- Nov 10, 2020: Janna Levin, "Black Hole Survival Guide." [more info]
- Oct 20, 2020: James Rodger Fleming, "First Woman: Joanne Simpson and the Tropical Atmosphere" [more info]
- Oct 13, 2020: Christof Koch, in conversation with Gabriel Kreiman, "The Feeling of Life Itself: Why Consciousness Is Widespread but Can't Be Computed." [more info]
- Oct 6, 2020: Cumrun Vafa, "Puzzles to Unravel the Universe." [more info]
- Sep 30, 2020: Katia Moskvitch, in conversation with Dan Hooper, "Neutron Stars: The Quest to Understand the Zombies of the Cosmos." [This talk was canceled due to technical difficulties. We apologize for the inconvenience!]
- Sep 18, 2020: Edward D. Melillo, in conversation with Charles Mann, "The Butterfly Effect: Insects and the Making of the Modern World." [more info]
- Sep 4, 2020: Rita Colwell, "A Lab of One's Own: One Woman's Personal Journey Through Sexism in Science." [more info]
- July 23, 2020: Hope Jahren, in conversation with Barbara Kingsolver, "The Story of More." [more info]
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July 14, 2020: Sarah Stewart Johnson, in conversation with Deborah Blum, "The Sirens of Mars: Searching for Life on Another World." [more info]
- June 29, 2020: P.J.E. Peebles, "Cosmology’s Century: An Inside History of Our Modern Understanding of the Universe" [more info]
- May 21, 2020: Mario Livio, "Galileo and the Science Deniers" [more info]
- May 6, 2020: Tom Gauld, "Department of Mind-Blowing Theories" [this talk was canceled due to Covid-19 restrictions]
- Apr 23, 2020: Rana el Kaliouby, "Girl Decoded: A Scientist's Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology." [this talk was canceled due to Covid-19 restrictions]
- Apr. 20, 2020: Neil Shubin, "Decoding Four Billion Years of Life." [more info]
- Mar 5, 2020: Paul J. Steinhardt, "The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter." [more info]
- Feb 26, 2020: Daniel L. Everett, "Homo Erectus and the Invention of Human Language." [more info]
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Feb 19, 2020: Brian Greene, "Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe." [more info]
Please note: this event was not recorded. - Jan. 30, 2020: Donna Jackson Nakazawa, in conversation with Beth Stevens, "The Angel and the Assassin: The Tiny Brain Cell That Changed the Course of Medicine." [more info]
- Nov. 19, 2019: Naomi Oreskes, "Why Trust Science?" [more info]
- Nov. 13, 2019: Lee Smolin, "Einstein's Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum." [more info]
- Nov. 7, 2019: Karen Olsson, in conversation with Melissa Franklin, "The Weil Conjectures: On Math and the Pursuit of the Unknown." [more info]
- Oct. 30, 2019: S. James Gates, in conversation with Delilah Gates, "Proving Einstein Right: The Daring Expeditions that Changed How We Look at the Universe." [more info]
- Oct 23, 2019: Sean Carroll, "Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime." [more info]
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Sep 3, 2019: Randall Munroe, in conversation with Kate Darling, "How To: Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real-World Problems." Please note: this event was not recorded. [more info]
- June 5, 2019: Graham Farmelo in conversation with Jacob Barandes, "The Universe Speaks in Numbers: How Modern Math Reveals Nature's Deepest Secrets" [more info]
- May 8, 2019: Venki Ramakrishnan, "The Quest for the Structure of the Biological Machine that Reads Our Genes" [more info]
- Mar 27, 2019: Felice Frankel, "Picturing Science and Engineering" [more info]
- Feb 27, 2019: David Reich, "A Tale of Two Subcontinents: The Parallel Prehistories of Europe and South Asia." [more info]
- Jan 30, 2019: Richard Wrangham, "Capital Punishment and the Origin of Homo Sapiens" [more info]
- Nov 15, 2018: Adam Becker, "The Trouble with Quantum Physics, and Why It Matters" [more info]
- Oct 17, 2018: Marcia Bartusiak, "Dispatches from Planet 3: Thirty-Two (Brief) Tales on the Solar System, the Milky Way, and Beyond" [more info]
- Apr 18, 2018: Stephanie Mohr, "The Fruit Fly as Human Disease Research Tool" [more info]
- Feb 21, 2018: Marcus du Sautoy, "The Great Unknown" [more info]