Sarah Johnson, Visiting Scholar
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
This seminar will explore the history and cultural resonance of the search for life on Mars. We'll trace how scientific ideas about Mars have evolved as we have learned more about the planet, from our 19th centrury speculations about an advanced civilization on the planet's suface to our current belief that, at most, there may be microbes within the planet's interior. We will explore why, despite our diminished expectations, the search for life on Mars continues today with as much, or more, energy and resources as any point in the past. We'll read firsthand accounts of scientists through the generations, examining not only what it means for a world as rich, complex, and enigmatic as our own to join the sphere of human significance, but also how, in different ages, our conceptions of Mars have reflected a telling portrait of life on Earth. In so doing, the seminar will illustrate one of the core lessons of the space age: that the act of exploring another world invariably reveals so much about our own.
Sponsor(s): Science, Technology, and Society
Contact: Sarah Johnson, 859-361-5321, ssj@mit.edu
| Jan/13 | Mon | 03:00PM-04:00PM | 56-162 |
| Jan/14 | Tue | 03:00PM-04:00PM | 56-162 |
| Jan/15 | Wed | 03:00PM-04:00PM | 56-162 |
| Jan/16 | Thu | 03:00PM-04:00PM | 56-162 |
| Jan/17 | Fri | 03:00PM-04:00PM | 56-162 |
Sarah Johnson - Visiting Scholar