Strange New Worlds and the Quest for Life Outside the Solar System

This year, the Food for Thought Lecture Series is once again revisiting "BIG ideas", a theme that we looked at ten years ago! How have things changed? What progress, if any, has been made in various fields? Join us for what promises to be a very thought-provoking series. The series will be hosted by Professors Don Smith and Tim Geary.

Our first speaker is René Doyon (Université de Montréal), professor at the physics department of the Université de Montréal, Director of the Mont-Mégantic Observatory and principal investigator of the Canadian science instrument aboard the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), an $8B 6.5m infrared space telescope scheduled for launch in 2018.

How far can we stretch our boundaries? Come and look beyond our stars with René Doyon who will talk about his search and study of exoplanets and the development of complex state-of-the-art astronomical instrumentation to help us see planets outside our Solar System.