BLAST!
A Film by Paul Devlin
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Screenings at 3:30 and 6:00 P.M.
Cohen Auditorium, Claudia Cohen Hall
The 2008 documentary film BLAST! follows a team of scientists hoping to figure out how galaxies form by launching a revolutionary new telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon. Each screening will be followed by an audience Q&A with the film’s subject, Reese W. Flower Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics Mark Devlin.
“In a rare combination of content and storytelling, BLAST! treats the viewer not only to the fruits of cosmic discovery but to the fits and starts of dedicated scientists who navigate paths of research that enable it.”
- Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist and Host of NOVA science NOW
“We experience the scientists’ hopes, tensions and frustrations as their goal of charting distant galaxies is threatened by arctic conditions, damaged mirrors, lost hard drives and polar bears.”
- Ian Johns, The Observer (U.K.)
Read more about Mark Devlin's work on the BLAST project in Penn Arts and Sciences Magazine.
Sponsored by the School of Arts and Sciences and the Penn Science Cafe.