Lecture on Mars: Former NASA Chief Scientist Visits Universität Heidelberg
Exploring Mars is the topic of a public lecture at Heidelberg University to be given by the former NASA Chief Scientist, Dr James L. Green. The former director of the Planetary Science Division will report on exploring the Red Planet and searching for “fingerprints of life”, for example with the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. The event entitled “An Afternoon with James Green: Exploring Mars” is taking place on 4 November 2024 on the invitation of the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence. The talk (in English) will be in lecture hall 1 of the physics lecture hall building, Im Neuenheimer Feld 380, beginning at 5pm. Registration is requested.
Press Release
Heidelberg, 30 October 2024
Lecture on Mars: Former NASA Chief Scientist Visits Universität Heidelberg
James L. Green to speak on exploring the Red Planet and the search for “fingerprints of life”
Exploring Mars is the topic of a public lecture at Heidelberg University to be given by the former NASA Chief Scientist, Dr James L. Green. The former director of the Planetary Science Division will report on exploring the Red Planet and searching for “fingerprints of life”, for example with the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. The event entitled “An Afternoon with James Green: Exploring Mars” is taking place on 4 November 2024 on the invitation of the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence. The talk (in English) will be in lecture hall 1 of the physics lecture hall building, Im Neuenheimer Feld 380, beginning at 5pm. Registration is requested.
Mars missions with orbiters, landers and rovers have garnered numerous findings about the Red Planet. These extraordinary discoveries increase the likelihood that life may once have existed on Mars. For example, traces of water and complex organic substances have been found. According to experts, they indicate that more “fingerprints” of ancient life – if there was any – might be locked away in the rocks of the planet. The Perseverance rover is part of a current research mission, which aims to collect rock, soils and atmospheric samples and bring them to Earth for scientific examinations. On February 2021, the Ingenuity helicopter landed on the surface of Mars alongside the Perseverance rover, completing a total of 72 controlled reconnaissance flights up to January this year. In his presentation, the former NASA chief scientist will talk about the significance of these activities for further exploring Mars.
For over 40 years, physicist Dr James Lauer Green held various positions at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration – NASA. As Director of the Planetary Science Division, he was responsible for the New Horizons spacecraft flyby of Pluto, the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter, and the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, just to name a few. Dr Green has published nearly 130 scientific articles and over 80 technical and popular articles.
The public event was organized by Junior Professor Dr Agustin Moreno, whose research on symplectic geometry is based at the Institute for Mathematics of Heidelberg University and in the STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence. He will also be the presenter for the event. In the Cluster scientists from different disciplines jointly work on questions relating to the formation, role and detection of structure in a broad range of natural phenomena – from subatomic particle physics to cosmology and from fundamental quantum physics to neuroscience.
Those interested in attending the public event “An Afternoon with James Green: Exploring Mars” are asked to register via https://structures.uni-heidelberg.de/events/2024_green.
Contact:
Heidelberg University
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Press Office, phone +49 6221 54-2311
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Weitere Informationen:
https://structures.uni-heidelberg.de – STRUCTURES Cluster of Excellence
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