Genesis/The Big Bang: Why is there something rather than nothing?

Please join us for a Pre-Show Saturday Symposium with Professor Priyamvada Natarajan as we discuss the parallels between religion and physics!

Priyamvada Natarajan’s research in theoretical astrophysics is focused on exotica in the universe – dark matter, dark energy and black holes. She is known for her contributions to mapping dark matter in clusters of galaxies and for developing theoretical models to describe the formation, assembly and growth history of black holes in the universe. An MIT undergraduate, she did her PhD from Cambridge, where she was the first woman to be elected a fellow in Astrophysics at Trinity College. She has a strong interest in the history and philosophy of science and holds as Masters degree from MIT’s Science, Technology and Society program. Recipient of many awards and honors, she is also deeply invested in the public dissemination of science and is currently working on her first book. Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan’s website is astro.yale.edu/priya.

A Post-Show Conversation with Pastor Paul Ford & Pastor Larry Ward

Please join us for a Post-Show Conversation with Pastor Paul Ford and Pastor Larry Ward as we discuss Mr g from a religious perspective!

Reverend Paul Robeson Ford, a Mass Humanities Scholar for Mr g, is the Senior Pastor of the Union Baptist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His leadership at Union is focused on stimulating growth and renewed mission at this historic congregation. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College and a Master of Divinity Degree from the Divinity School at the University of Chicago and is currently completing a Ph.D. in Theology at the University of Chicago, where his research interests focus on the intersection between prison ministry, mass incarceration, and theology that is centered on transformation and liberation.

Pastor Larry Ward has led Abundant Life Church since 1994. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Northeastern University in technical communications and a Masters of Education from the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Divinity School Summer Leadership Institute. Pastor Larry’s vision and passion for missions have impacted people as far as Jamaica, W.I. Barbados, W.I., Uganda, East Africa and Haiti.

A Post-Show Conversation with Professor Ahmed Ragab

Please join us for a Post-Show Conversation with Professor Ahmed Ragab!

Ahmed Ragab is the Richard T. Watson Assistant Professor of Science and Religion at Harvard University Divinity School.  He is currently completing two book projects: “A Biography of a Hospital: Medicine, Religion and Charity in the Medieval Middle East,” which is a study of the medieval Islamic hospital; and “In the Name of God the Healer: Prophetic Medicine in the Medieval and Modern Middle East,” a study of the development of prophetic medicine from the medieval to the contemporary period. Ragab is also working on a research project on perceptions of bodies, genders, and sexualities in medical, religious, and cultural views in the Islamic world. He is also a member of the Commission on History of Science and Technology in Islamic Societies.

We are Here: The How and the Why

Please join us for a Pre-Show Saturday Symposium with Professor Daniel McKaughan as we answer the question: “How do we best think about humanity – about intelligent life – in relationship to the immensity of the universe?”

Daniel J. McKaughan, a Mass Humanities Scholar for Mr g (Ph.D., History and Philosophy of Science, University of Notre Dame), is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. Prior to joining the Boston College faculty in 2008, he was at the University of Notre Dame, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and, subsequently, a Sorin Postdoctoral Fellow. He has published articles in journals such as Philosophy of Science, Isis, Biology and Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Science on a wide range of topics in the philosophy of science, philosophy of biology, epistemology, philosophy of language, philosophy of religion, science and values, American pragmatism, and the historical foundations of molecular biology.

Edmund Bertschinger received his BS in physics from Caltech in 1979 and his PhD in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University in 1984. Following postdoctoral positions at the University of Virginia and at UC Berkeley, he joined the MIT faculty in 1986. From 2002-2007 he served as Astrophysics Division Head before becoming Physics Department Head. He is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and Helen B. Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society.

Congratulate the cast and creative team at an reception after the performance.