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Teaching Fellow, Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellows Program

Chancellor's Cup Award, given to the Vanderbilt faculty member "who has made the greatest contribution outside the classroom to undergraduate student-faculty relationships in the recent past"

Templeton Foundation Award in Science & Religion course competition

Fellow, Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, Vanderbilt University

Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in the College of Arts & Science, Vanderbilt University

DM Ori: a young star occulted by a disturbance in its protoplanetary disk

High Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy and Star Formation: HETG Observations of the Pre-Main Sequence Stellar Cluster IC 348

Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go

Award-winning teacher and researcher at Vanderbilt University, in Nashville, Tennessee. Author of four books (Is Pluto a Planet?/2006; How Old is the Universe?/2010; Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?/2014; Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go/2018) and many dozens of professional papers.

Space colonization

Extraterrestrial Life

Mars Colonization

Mars

Space Travel

Astrophysics

Ethics of space colonization

Vanderbilt University Profile

Vanderbilt University News Profile

Personal Website

For atheists, the idea of aliens seems real. Religious people doubt it.

How Would World Religions Respond To Extraterrestrial Life?

Jupiter, Saturn merging in night sky, closest in centuries

Christmas Star: Rare Jupiter, Saturn conjunction illuminates link between Christ and the heavens

Mars Surface Mystery: Where Did All The Water Go?

NASA's successful Mars landing means we have to consider what to do about potential life there

Why Earthlings Are So Obsessed With Mars

Why robotic bees may be the next visitors to Mars

Tolstoy Wasn’t Much of an Astronomer

Could Aliens Have Souls That Need Saving?

Professor of Astronomy; Director of Undergraduate Studies; Director of Program in Communication of Science & Technology

Vanderbilt astronomy professor David Weintraub’s new book, Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go, takes a step back from the all-systems-go approach to colonizing another planet and considers the ethics. There’s no better time to think about the implications of such a trip, the author contends, with both NASA and entrepreneurial luminaries Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos working to make it happen.
Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go will be released May 1, with preordering available now on Amazon. Weintraub is also the author of “Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It?” and two other books.

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"In our children's lifetime, I believe we will be on Mars."  That is the statement that Vanderbilt Astronomy Professor David Weintraub made on last night's OpenLine. In his new book, "Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go" he outlines what he thinks it would take for humans to begin colonizing the planet.

Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go p4

Can astronomy explain the biblical Star of Bethlehem? Vanderbilt astronomy professor David Weintraub explains: http://vu.edu/star-of-bethlehem

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Can astronomy explain the biblical Star of Bethlehem?

Watch video of Vanderbilt Professor David A. Weintraub speaking March 23 on "How Old is the Universe?" as part of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

David A. Weintraub is professor of astronomy, director of the Communication of Science & Technology program, and director of Undergraduate Studies for Department of Physics & Astronomy at Vanderbilt University.

The title question about the age of our universe poses a deceptively simple question, and its answer carries profound implications for science, religion and philosophy. In this class, we will trace the centuries-old quest by astronomers to fathom the secrets of the nighttime sky. We will discover how they have used their knowledge of astrophysics and their observations of the heavens to determine that the universe is 13.7 billion years old. By the end of the course, you will understand why astronomers know this is the answer to the title question. Individual classes will focus on 1) ancient answers for the age of the universe, Renaissance science's impact on that ancient wisdom, and Biblical Chronology as a reasonable seventeenth century response to the birth of modern science; 2) nineteenth-century discoveries that changed astronomy into astrophysics; 3) white dwarf stars as a chronometer for the age of the universe; 4) star clusters as another tool for measuring the age of the universe; 5) the expanding universe as a third method for dating the universe; 6) maps of the cosmic background radiation, dark matter and dark energy as a fourth method for determining the age of the universe. No background in math, astronomy, or physics is required to understand this material.

The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt supports lifelong learning. It is an organization that provides adults with educational programs, stimulating tours and trips, and a variety of social events. The program reflects the high academic standards espoused by the university on all levels. By offering non-credit courses, students benefit from the stimulus of lectures and discussions in an informal and relaxed environment. The student body is a cohesive group that projects a true sense of community, always welcoming new members.

The Division of Public Affairs sponsors Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Vanderbilt.

How old is the universe?

Dr. David Weintraub, Associate Professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, takes an interfaith view of extraterrestrial life and what its discovery could mean for religion.

For more information on Chautauqua Institution and our lecture platforms, visit www.ciweb.org

David Weintraub - The Potential Impact of the Discovery of Planets around Other Stars on Religion

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