{"600824":{"#nid":"600824","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Why Do We Look Up at the Heavens?","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhy did we go to the Moon? Why does the Vatican support an astronomical observatory? These questions mask a deeper question: Why do individuals choose to spend their lives in pursuit of pure knowledge?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EVatican Observatory Director \u003Cstrong\u003EBrother Guy Consolmagno\u003C\/strong\u003E will reflect on the motivations behind our choices, both as individuals and as a society and how they control the sorts of science that gets done. Motivations determine the kinds of answers that are found to be satisfying. And ultimately, they affect how we think of ourselves.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAbout the Speaker\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.vaticanobservatory.va\/content\/specolavaticana\/en\/who-are-we-\/staff\/guy-j--consolmagno--s-j---1-.html\u0022\u003EGuy Consolmagno\u003C\/a\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003Eis a brother in the Roman Catholic Society of Jesus (SJ, the Jesuits), working since 1993 as an astronomer and meteorite specialist at the \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.vaticanobservatory.va\/content\/specolavaticana\/en.html\u0022\u003ESpecola Vaticana\u003C\/a\u003E \u003C\/em\u003E(Vatican Observatory), located in the Papal summer gardens outside Rome. Since 2014, he has been president of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vofoundation.org\/\u0022\u003EVatican Observatory Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E, which supports the work of the Observatory and especially its 1.8-meter \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.vovatt.org\/\u0022\u003EVatican Advanced Technology Telescope\u003C\/a\u003E (VATT), in Arizona. In September 2015, Pope Francis named him director of the Vatican Observatory.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EConsolmagno\u0026#39;s research explores connections between meteorites, asteroids, and the evolution of small solar-system bodies. Along with more than 200 scientific publications, he is the author of a number of popular books, including: \u003Cem\u003ETu\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003Er\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cem\u003En Left at Orion \u003C\/em\u003E(with Dan Davis), and most recently, \u003Cem\u003EWould You Baptize an Extraterrestrial? \u003C\/em\u003E(with Fr. Paul Mueller, SJ). He also has hosted science programs for BBC Radio 4, has been interviewed in numerous documentary films, and writes a monthly science column for the British Catholic magazine \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.thetablet.co.uk\/\u0022\u003EThe Tablet\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EA native of Detroit, Michigan, Consolmagno earned two degrees from MIT and a doctorate in planetary sciences from the University of Arizona. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard and MIT, served in the US Peace Corps (Kenya), and taught university physics at Lafayette College before entering the Jesuits in 1989.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EConsolmagno has served as chair of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dps.aas.org\/\u0022\u003EAmerican Astronomical Society\u0026rsquo;s Division for Planetary Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E (AAS\/DPS) and on the planetary surfaces nomenclature committee of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.iau.org\/\u0022\u003EInternational Astronomical Union\u003C\/a\u003E (IAU).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAsteroid \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ssd.jpl.nasa.gov\/sbdb.cgi?sstr=4597+Consolmagno\u0022\u003E4597 Consolmagno\u003C\/a\u003E was named in recognition of his work. In 2014, he won the American Astronomical Society\u0026rsquo;s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dps.aas.org\/prizes\/sagan\u0022\u003ECarl Sagan Medal\u003C\/a\u003E for excellence in public communication in planetary science.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWhy did we go to the Moon? Why does the Vatican support an astronomical observatory? These questions mask a deeper question: Why do individuals choose to spend their lives in pursuit of pure knowledge?\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A public lecture by Vatican Observatory Director Guy Consolmagno"}],"uid":"30678","created_gmt":"2018-01-15 23:40:50","changed_gmt":"2018-01-31 18:09:29","author":"A. Maureen Rouhi","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2018-04-12T20:00:00-04:00","event_time_end":"2018-04-12T21:00:00-04:00","event_time_end_last":"2018-04-12T21:00:00-04:00","gmt_time_start":"2018-04-13 00:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2018-04-13 01:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2018-04-13 01:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"600825":{"id":"600825","type":"image","title":"Vatican Observatory Director Guy Consolmagno","body":null,"created":"1516059855","gmt_created":"2018-01-15 23:44:15","changed":"1516059855","gmt_changed":"2018-01-15 23:44:15","alt":"","file":{"fid":"229035","name":"Guy Consolmagno, Vatican Observatory.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Guy%20Consolmagno%2C%20Vatican%20Observatory.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Guy%20Consolmagno%2C%20Vatican%20Observatory.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":78590,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Guy%20Consolmagno%2C%20Vatican%20Observatory.jpg?itok=sAD-pgCZ"}}},"media_ids":["600825"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"4188","name":"astronomy"},{"id":"176775","name":"Vatican Observatory"},{"id":"176776","name":"Guy Consolmagno"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"78771","name":"Public"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"},{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003Ecressler@ece.gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}