Dr. Bennett speaks frequently to the general public at colleges, science museums, and planetariums. Currently he can offer the following presentations, each lasting approximately 1 hour.
Totality! Understanding Total Solar Eclipses!
If you were lucky enough to experience totality during the 2017 or 2024 USA total solar eclipses, you know how incredible these events can be. There won’t be another in the U.S. for a while, but there are plenty of opportunities to see total eclipses in other regions of the world. This presentation will help you learn about these eclipses, including the science behind them, how to view them, and activities that parents and teachers can do with kids. Note: This presentation will include instruction on using the free app “Totality by Big Kid Science”, created by the speaker, and will be based around his book Totality: An Eclipse Guide in Rhyme and Science.
Pathway to a Post-Global Warming Future — A Brief Overview of Climate Science, Consequences, and Solutions
The media often portrays our climate future as a choice between bleak and bleaker, which may seem justified given the many impacts of global warming that we are already seeing. But it doesn’t have to be that way, because if we understand the science behind global warming, then we can also see a pathway to its solution. In this presentation, astrophysicist/educator Jeffrey Bennett will give you a brief overview of the surprisingly simple basic science behind global warming and of the consequences we can expect from this warming. He will then explain how we can in principle take the steps necessary to envision a “post-global warming” future, meaning a future in which today’s children will someday be able to talk about global warming as a once-serious problem that we found a way to solve. Note: This talk builds upon Dr. Bennett’s freely posted Global Warming Primer.
What is Relativity? An Intuitive Introduction to Einstein’s Ideas and Why They Matter
Have you ever been curious about Einstein’s theory of relativity? Almost everyone has heard of it, but few people know much about it or realize its critical importance to our modern understanding of the universe. With 2015 marking the 100th anniversary of Einstein’s publication of his general theory of relativity, it seems time to change that, which is why astrophysicist and educator Jeffrey Bennett embarked on a 25-city “national relativity tour.” In this presentation, based on his book What is Relativity? from Columbia University Press, Dr. Bennett will introduce you to the basic ideas of relativity and why they are important to everyone. The presentation is aimed especially at people with no prior knowledge of relativity and should be understandable for anyone of middle school age or up.
Math for Life — Crucial Skills You Didn’t Learn in School
How can we solve the national debt crisis? Should you or your child take on a student loan? Is it safe to talk on a cell phone while driving? Are there viable energy alternatives to fossil fuels? What could you do with a billion dollars? Could simple policy changes reduce political polarization? These questions may all seem very different, but they share two things in common. First, they are all questions with important implications for either personal success or our success as a nation. Second, they all concern topics that we can fully understand only with the aid of clear quantitative or mathematical thinking. In other words, they are topics for which we need math for life—a kind of math that looks quite different from most of the math that we learn in school, but that is just as (and often more) important. This presentation will offer a series of examples of why “Math for Life” is so important to our future. Note: This talk is based on Dr. Bennett’s book Math for Life.
Beyond UFOs: The Scientific Search for Extraterrestrial Life and its Astonishing Implications for Our Future
Is there really life beyond Earth? Reports of UFOs are unlikely to give us an answer, but science may soon be able to. Author/astrophysicist Jeffrey Bennett will talk about why the search for life beyond Earth has become a hot topic of scientific research, and discuss how scientists are searching both for microbial life and extraterrestrial intelligence. Along the way, we’ll also see why the possibility of life beyond Earth has profound implications to the future of our species, even in the unlikely event that we are alone in the universe. Note: This talk draws from Dr. Bennett’s books Beyond UFOs (Princeton University Press, 2008/2011) and Life in the Universe (Princeton University Press, 2022). Click here to see a video of a past presentation of this lecture.
The Scale of the Universe
If you could hold the Sun in your hand, where would we find the planets and other stars? Astrophysicist Jeffrey Bennett will discuss the remarkable scale of the universe in both space and time, so that you’ll see what it REALLY means when we say that something is “astronomical” in size. Note: This talk largely centers around the Voyage scale model solar system that is now a permanent exhibit on the National Mall in Washington, DC; Dr. Bennett proposed the exhibit and served as co-PI during its development.
Booking a Public Talk: Please contact Dr. Bennett for information about scheduling and fees.