Science & Cocktails with Ewine van Dishoeck

Event in English, semi-seated.

19:30 doors open for cocktails
20:30 Ewine van Dishoeck (talk)
21:40 live music by Vincent Swierstra (sarangi) & Anne Heijligers (dj/producer)  

After nearly a decade of successful and awarded editions in Copenhagen, Johannesburg and Brussels, and a first edition of Science & Cocktails in Amsterdam with Robbert Dijkgraaf we invite astrophysicist Ewine van Dishoeck to talk about the ingredients for life in space. Afterwards, chilled cocktails and live music to help you see the stars more clearly.

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Building stars, planets and the ingredients for life in space
One of the most exciting developments in astronomy is the discovery of thousands of planets around stars other than our Sun. But how do these exo-planets form, and why are they so different from those in our own solar system? Which ingredients are available to build them?

Thanks to powerful new telescopes, astronomers are starting to address these age-old questions scientifically. Stars and planets are born in the cold and tenuous clouds between the stars in the Milky Way, and the new ALMA array now allows us to zoom in on planetary construction zones for the first time. Water and a surprisingly rich variety of organic materials are found, including simple sugars. Can these pre-biotic molecules end up in comets and ultimately new planets and thus form the basis for life elsewhere in the universe?
With the days getting shorter, dark and cool nights will surround us again. No need to be sad! Put on a warm coat, grab a friend and head out of the city or to an observatorium. But for some interesting and entertaining starwatching, it is nice to have a little backstory ready. Therefore, we have arranged the best teacher in this field you can wish for in Amsterdam’s newest but pretty familiar classroom that is not unfamiliar with stars.

Ewine van Dishoeck
Professor of molecular astrophysics at Leiden University. Following her graduation from Leiden, she held positions at Harvard, Princeton and Caltech from 1984-1990. The research of her group is at the boundary of astronomy and chemistry and uses ground- and space-based observatories to study the molecular trail from interstellar clouds to planet-forming disks. She holds many national and international science policy functions, including scientific director of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) and president of the International Astronomical Union. She has been fortunate to receive many awards, including the Dutch Spinoza award, the Dutch KNAW Professor Prize, the 2015 Einstein World Award for Science and the Kavli 2018 Astrophysics Prize. She is a Member of the Dutch, German and US National Academies of Sciences.

This event is an initiative by the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) with the support of NWA Route 2. 

Science & Cocktails Amsterdam is presented in cooperation with Paradiso and acknowledges the support of New Scientist.