Neighborhood Lecture Series
From the search for habitable worlds to exploring the inner workings of our planet, the Neighborhood Lectures Series provides a wonderful opportunity for friends and neighbors to explore the universe from the perspective of Carnegie researchers who are working at the leading edge of scientific discovery.
For more than fifteen years, the Carnegie Institution for Science’s Earth and Planets Laboratory (EPL) has hosted public science lectures at our Broad Branch Road campus in northwest Washington, D.C. These talks, held in the spring and fall, connect the local community with the boundary-pushing research happening right here on our campus.
We hope to see you there!
Upcoming Lectures
Our Neighborhood Lecture Series connects scientists to the community through engaging lectures about the research we do here at the Earth and Planets Laboratory. We host these lectures in the spring and fall. Stay tuned for more!
Recent Recordings
New Views of the Moon | Professor Stephen Parman
Is Earth’s core young at heart? Search for inner core formation using paleomagnetism & dynamo theory
Under Alien Skies: A Sightseer's Guide to Saturn
Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire! Magma Oceans & Planetary Evolution
A New Creation Story for the Earth and Moon | Neighborhood Lecture Series
The Science of Star Trek
Minerals: Earth's Ultimate Time Capsules with Dr. Robert Hazen
On the Shoulders of a Giant: Continuing Vera Rubin's Quest to Understand Dark Matter
Peer into space with the Giant Magellan Telescope’s Chief of Science Rebecca Bernstein
Discovering Alaska's Hidden "Supervolcano"
Hot Jupiters, Super Puffs,& Lava Planets, Oh My! Exoplanet Science in JWST Year 1
A new golden age for sample return missions
What makes a planet habitable?
Exploring for diamonds and what they tell us about how the Earth works
A new golden age for sample return missions
Come not between the dragon and his wrath | Neighborhood Lecture Series
Bringing Asteroids to Earth: A Trip to the Early Solar System
Earth's First Crust | Neighborhood Lecture Series
How to change the freezing point of water and other curiosities from between the anvils.
Stay in the know!
Be the first to find out about our upcoming public events by signing up for our newsletter and subscribing to our social media channels!
We live tweet every Neighborhood Lecture, follow along or join the chat at #NeighborhoodLectures.
- Twitter: @CarnegiePlanets
- Facebook: @CarnegiePlanets
- Instagram: @CarnegiePlanets
Neighborhood Lecture News
FAQ
The Earth and Planets Laboratory is home to leading scientists in Earth, planetary, and space sciences. We discover new worlds, create new materials, illuminate the inner workings of our planet, and seek to understand the universe that is our home. Through our Neighborhood Lecture, we aim to share our science with you!
We also regularly invite speakers from around Carnegie Science's two other divisions—Observatories and Biosphere Sciences and Engineering—to talk about anything ranging from coral and climate change to the mysteries of dark matter.
Some recent topics include:
- Sample Return Missions
- Dark Matter and Dark Energy
- Mineralogy and Planetary Evolution
- Exploring Exoplanets
- Planetary Habitability
- Strange High-Pressure Science
- Earth's Early History
- The Biology of Corals
- Searching for Planet X
The talk will be held in the Greenewalt Building auditorium on the Carnegie Institution for Science's Broad Branch Road Campus. Refreshments will likely take place on the outdoor patio.
Address: 5241 Broad Branch Rd NW, Washington, DC 20015
Once you're on campus, look for the building with the patio next to the building that looks like a giant water tower.
Find the Greenewalt buildingThese events are normally hybrid, which means we encourage you to join us either in person or online! Joining us over Zoom or tuning in via our YouTube stream is easy.
Our YouTube channelSpace is limited, and early registration helps us get an accurate count of who is going to attend before the event.
When you register online and share your email address, it also allows us to stay in touch with you with important updates and potential changes, like cancellations, before the presentation.
Rest assured that we do not share your email address with any external partners. Click here to view our privacy policy.
If you do not want to register online, we are happy to add you to our list via email or phone. To do this, please contact our events coordinator, Alycia Alexander.
The Earth and Planets Laboratory is a division of the Carnegie Institution for Science, an independent research institution dedicated to providing our scientists with the flexibility to follow their ideas and discoveries, seize opportunities, and define new fields of investigation. At the Earth and Planets Laboratory, we work at the frontier of human knowledge. We discover new worlds, create new materials, illuminate the inner workings of our planet, and seek to understand the universe that is our home.
Divisions at Carnegie ScienceWe're proud to provide professional ASL interpretation services for these public science events. If you require this service, please make a request before your arrival on-site so that we can have an interpreter present.
Simply email our events coordinator Alycia Alexander (adalexander@carnegiescience.edu) to make your request.
There will be closed captioning available via Zoom for virtual attendees.
No.
The Capital Science Evenings are hosted by Carnegie Science and are often held downtown at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. The Neighborhood Lecture Series is hosted by the Earth and Planets Laboratory and is held at the Broad Branch Road campus.
"Since 1991, Carnegie Science has hosted extraordinary researchers from a wide range of scientific disciplines as part of the Capital Science Evenings lecture series. The lectures provide a unique opportunity to connect with some of the most gifted investigators in science and hear the stories behind their discoveries. These hour-long lectures, followed by a brief question and answer period, go beyond the media accounts for a firsthand look at the “ah-ha” moments, the setbacks, and the triumphs that drive brilliant minds and fundamentally change our understanding of the world around us."
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