Astrophysicist Mario Livio to give John Wiley Jones Distinguished Lecture at RIT, Dec. 8

Astrophysicist and author Mario Livio will visit Rochester Institute of Technology to give the College of Science's annual John Wiley Jones Distinguished Lecture. The event coincides with the college's celebration of RIT's 175th anniversary.

Livio will present, “The Golden Ratio,” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 8, in the B. Thomas Golisano College auditorium. He is a senior astrophysicist and the former head of the science division at the Space Telescope Institute, which conducts the scientific program of the Hubble Space Telescope. He is also the author of the popular book, The Golden Ratio, which explores the recurrence of the number 1.618… in nature, the arts and psychology. The event is free and open to the public.

Livio has conducted fundamental research on the topic of accretion of mass onto black holes, neutron stars and white dwarfs, as well as on the formation of black holes and the possibility to extract energy from them. During the past five years, his research has focused on supernova explosions and their use in cosmology to determine the rate of expansion of the universe and the nature of “dark energy” that causes the cosmic expansion to accelerate.

The late John Wiley Jones was founder and chairman of the board of Jones Chemical Inc. in Caledonia and an avid proponent of science education. The annual lecture series was established in 1974.

For more information about the event, call 585-475-5774.