Science & Cocktails: Unraveling the History of the Milky Way

We are sorry to inform you that Amina Helmi can’t make it to the Science & Cocktails this Monday evening, due to health reasons. The event has been postponed to Friday 13 March.

Your ticket remains valid for the new date, you don’t have to do anything. If you are unable to attend on the new date, it is possible to return your ticket(s) to receive a full refund of ticket fees. You request your refund at our ticketing partner Paylogic. Ticket buyers receive an e-mail with all details.

Event in English, semi-seated.
19:30 doors open for cocktails
19:45 Wild Organ & Drums (live music)
20:30 Amina Helmi (talk)

Science & Cocktails is a series of public talks by scientists with live music and smoky dry-ice chilled cocktails in your hand. Professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute Amina Helmi unravels the history of the Milky Way. Beforehand live music by Wild Organ & drums and tasty cocktails to better think about our own galaxy and the many billons of galaxies in the Universe. 

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Archeology with stars: unraveling the history of the Milky Way

How do galaxies evolve? What was the formation history of the Milky Way? How can we tell? What do we know about the younger years of the Milky Way?

There are many billions of galaxies like the Milky Way in the Universe. Realising this, we may not be in such a special galaxy after all. But it is the one we know best,   as we can study it in much more detail than any other in the Universe.

We can observe the individual stars and measure for example, how old they are, their chemical composition and how they move. All these properties help us reconstruct the story of the formation of the Milky Way, and to carry out as it were, some kind of Galactic Archeology.

This relatively young research field is currently booming, thanks to many new instruments and surveys on the ground. In particular, from the ESA space mission ‘Gaia’. This mission  is currently mapping the Milky Way in exquisite detail, and has led us to a true revolution of our  understanding of the Milky Way. 

Travel back in space and time with the professor behind this mission, Prof. Amina Helmi, who received the Spinoza prize for outstanding/intriguing work. 

On Monday 24 February, we start this mission from Planet x31, where we will delve into the most recent discoveries that Gaia has made possible, and outline the history of the Milky Way in the last 10 billion years. 

Amina Helmi is Professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen. Her research focuses on the evolution and dynamics of galaxies, in particular the Milky Way. She is member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received the Spinoza Prize in 2019 – the highest scientific award in the Netherlands. She has discovered the Helmi Stream.

Wild Organs & Drums are Hans de Wild on keys and drummer Peter Weissink. Their sound is an energetic, soulful jazz with hints of funk and dance. After the Prins Claus Conservatorium, Hans de Wild studied jazz at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA. He has played with Lee Ritenour and Bart Wirtz. 

This event is an initiative by the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) with the support of NWA Route2. Science & Cocktails Amsterdam is presented in cooperation with Paradiso and acknowledges the support of New Scientist.