Creative reactions to the end of the World (PVC-R Visiting Professor Lecture Series)

Full title: Creative Reactions to the End of the World: From Galileo to the 21st Century Universe. The universe beyond the Earth has been an increasingly more astonishing place ever since Galileo's first discoveries with the telescope 400 years ago. Now, we are trying to understand a flood of revolutionary concepts such as hundreds of planets discovered around nearby stars and the chance of finding life elsewhere; dark matter around galaxies everywhere; vast amounts of shadowy "dark energy" throughout all of space; or giant black holes at the centers of galaxies. How did we get here? What does it mean? People as far back as Galileo's time have faced exactly the same questions about the outside world that we do now, and their reactions are as fascinating as the discoveries themselves. Professor Harris was invited to Swinburne under the Board of Research Visiting Professor Grant Scheme, and this lecture was presented as part of the PVC(R) Visiting Professor Lecture Serie