The Las Cumbres Speakers Program

A program of the Topical Group in Gravitation and the Forum on the History of Physics

and the Las Cumbres Observatory


The how and why of requesting a speaker

The World Year of Physics increased interest in Einstein and in his work. It is expected that there will be many requests for speakers on Einstein, and on the areas of science related to his work: astrophysics, cosmology, etc. To help meet some of these requests, a program has been organized by two units of the American Physical Society. We have assembled a pool of speakers who are experts in their subjects, and also have a demonstrated talent for explaining their subjects to nonspecialists.


If your group requests a speaker, we will try to find one that meets your needs and is located close to the site of your talk. We will then contact that speaker. If the speaker may be able to accept that invitation, we will arrange for the speaker to contact you directly.


Although interest in astrophysics and Einstein is international. Our resources are too limited. The progam, so far, has focused on requests from the US and Canada. Please understand, that due to the limited number of speakers there will be a large number of requests that we cannot fill, even in the US and Canada. If we do not initially have a speaker in your area, we will keep your request in our records and we will contact you if we are later able to find a speaker that is appropriate for your needs and location.

We MUST know what topic you want

Some groups are requesting talks on "Einstein." We do not know whether these groups want a talk about "Einstein and his physics," or "Einstein and his times," or "Einstein and the atomic bomb," or ... ? If you request a talk about black holes, you might mean "Black holes: a general introduction," or "Black holes as astrophysical objects," or ... The more clearly you let us know your preference, and your flexibility, the better we can try to find the right speaker.

Contact information


The administration for this program is handled at the Center for Gravitational Wave Astronomy at the University of Texas at Brownsville, funded by a donation by the Las Cumbres Observatory. There are three ways in which you can register your request with us for a speaker, and give us information about your peferences. In decreasing order of our preference for receiving requests, the three methods are:

A very small amount of money is available to fund talks that require some financial support and for which absolutely no other support is available. Requests for this funding should go directly to
        Prof. V. Trimble
        Physics Department
        University of California
        Irvine CA 92697-4575
       

site maintenance: r h p @ 07.10.06