Sept. 12, 2018

Leading astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell helps kick off 2018 Beakerhead on campus

Arts, science, engineering smash-up takes variety of events to campus and community
The Beakerhead event featuring astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell is sold out; wait-list registration is still available.

The Beakerhead event featuring astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell is sold out; wait-list available.

Wikimedia photo by Silicon Republic, licensed under Wikimedia Commons

Beakerhead, the Calgary-born smash-up of art, science and engineering is just around the corner. The University of Calgary is excited to sponsor the annual festival and actively participate in the community events.

UCalgary will host one of the world’s leading astrophysicists, Dr. Jocelyn Bell Burnell, PhD, on campus Sept. 19. As a young physicist, she noticed “a bit of scruff” in the data gathered from deep space by the Cambridge, U.K., lab where she worked. She kept digging, and the rest is history. She famously discovered the pulsar, described as one of the most significant scientific achievements of the 20th century.

On Sept. 6, Bell Burnell was awarded the $3 million Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, which she promptly donated to create scholarships for people from under-represented backgrounds who want to study physics.

Renowned science broadcaster Jay Ingram will facilitate the event. This is a free event in partnership with Beakerhead, Faculty of Science and Schulich School of Engineering. Registration is full — to be added to the wait-list you can email ceevents@ucalgary.ca.

Additional events on campus

Library and Cultural Resources is hosting Campus Collisions, a Beakerhead community event inside the TFDL. Sept. 19 and 20 will be packed with talks, demos, workshops and other events. These events are free and open to everyone. 

The Cumming School of Medicine is sponsoring the Lunch Without Light experience, where you dine in the dark and are guided and served by a server living with vision loss. The serving staff are joined by science writer and broadcaster Jay Ingram and Dr. Jaideep Bains, PhD, from the Hotchkiss Brian Institute at the University of Calgary.

The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking wants you to join them at the East Village RiverWalk, for their sponsored event Hack the Flyer to cheer on ‘hacked’ red wagon racing. In addition, the Faculty of Kinesiology is helping Calgarians understand the Science of Sweat, by sponsoring an event with Dr. Tish Doyle-Baker, PhD.

Other events on campus include an afternoon session with a paleontologist, as well as chance to do stargazing at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory. A near full moon will light the way to view Mars and Saturn.

Beakerhead in the community

A number of students, faculty and staff are also participating in events across the city. The UCalgary community have been active participants in programming since the first year of the festival in 2013.

Faculty members from several faculties — Arts, Kinesiology, Science, Schulich School of Engineering, Cumming School of Medicine and others — have presented their research to the public at Beakerhead through everything from art installations to lectures, on and off campus. In support of the Eyes High strategy, the Beakerhead program aims to integrate UCalgary with the community we both serve and lead, and to position the university as an intellectual, social and cultural hub.

Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell famously discovered the pulsar. She will be on campus Sept. 19 during Beakerhead.

Astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell famously discovered the pulsar.

iStock photo

Additional events on campus

Library and Cultural Resources is hosting Campus Collisions, a Beakerhead community event inside the TFDL. Sept. 19 and 20 will be packed with talks, demos, workshops and other events. These events are free and open to everyone. 

The Cumming School of Medicine is sponsoring the Lunch Without Light experience, where you dine in the dark and are guided and served by a server living with vision loss. The serving staff are joined by science writer and broadcaster Jay Ingram and Dr. Jaideep Bains, PhD, from the Hotchkiss Brian Institute at the University of Calgary.

The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking wants you to join them at the East Village RiverWalk, for their sponsored event Hack the Flyer to cheer on ‘hacked’ red wagon racing. In addition, the Faculty of Kinesiology is helping Calgarians understand the Science of Sweat, by sponsoring an event with Dr. Tish Doyle-Baker, PhD.

Other events on campus include an afternoon session with a paleontologist, as well as chance to do stargazing at the Rothney Astrophysical Observatory. A near full moon will light the way to view Mars and Saturn.

Beakerhead in the community

A number of students, faculty and staff are also participating in events across the city. The UCalgary community have been active participants in programming since the first year of the festival in 2013.

Faculty members from several faculties — Arts, Kinesiology, Science, Schulich School of Engineering, Cumming School of Medicine and others — have presented their research to the public at Beakerhead through everything from art installations to lectures, on and off campus. In support of the Eyes High strategy, the Beakerhead program aims to integrate UCalgary with the community we both serve and lead, and to position the university as an intellectual, social and cultural hub.

Check out the UCalgary Beakerhead site for more information on all these events.