Public Talk: Rare or Everywhere – Life in a Hostile Universe

Is there alien life on alien worlds? As we look out into the universe, we find more and more planets, but our search for extra-terrestrial life has so far yielded nothing. In this talk, Geraint Lewis will explore our scientific understanding of life in the universe, our continuing search for the signatures of alien civilisations, and address the question of “where is everybody?”. We will find that, whilst life may be common, intelligent life and star-crossing civilisations appear to be vanishingly rare, and we might be alone in the universe.

Professor Geraint F. Lewis FRSN FLSW FAIP, Professor of Astrophysics in the Sydney Institute for Astrophysics in the School of Physics of the University of Sydney. Born in Old South Wales, Geraint is an outstanding researcher who focuses on cosmological mysteries. Through exquisite and extensive observations with the world’s largest telescopes, coupled with synthetic universes generated on immense supercomputers, he hunts for the dark side — the dark matter and dark energy that shape the cosmos. He has published extensively in international journals with significant discoveries that confront our ideas on the formation and evolution of galaxies. His passion for cosmology and physics is reflected in his teaching and student supervision and an extensive outreach program that brings the mysteries of the universe to diverse international audiences. In 2021, Geraint was awarded the Astronomical Society of Australia’s “David Allen Prize” for exceptional achievement in astronomy communication.