On March 27, the campus community gathered in the Ring Family Performing Arts Hall to hear the 2018 Sturm Memorial Lecture, titled “Building Stars, Planets and the Ingredients for Life in Space.” This annual event in memory of Wesleyan alumnus Kenneth Sturm ’40 is held in the spring and is open to the public. It features a presentation from an astronomer who is outstanding in their field and able to communicate the excitement of science to a lay audience.
Ewine van Dishoeck, professor of molecular astrophysics at Leiden University, delivered the keynote lecture. She is president-elect of the International Astronomical Union (the organization that demoted Pluto from planet status) and a world leader in research on the chemistry of star and planet formation.The Sturm Memorial Lecture is sponsored by the astronomy department, the chemistry department, the Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the College of Integrative Sciences, and NASA Connecticut Space Grant Consortium. (Photos by Rebecca Goldfarb Terry ’19)
Olivia Drake
Mike Mavredakis
Ziba Kashef
Andrew Chatfield