The Moon and Humanity
With Dr. Jamil A. Shariff

Date: Thu, Jun 20, 2019 01:00PM
Price: Free with Museum admission

Book Ticket

Join Dr. Jamil A. Shariff and learn how the moon has benefitted the development and continued existence of life on planet Earth. This talk, by an astronomer working on cutting-edge space technology, will cover how the cycles of the moon have played a central role in the faith of Islam since its inception, and discuss how both lunar and solar cycles have remained important in our daily life from that era through to the present day. Having set the stage for a look forward, Dr. Shariff will invite you to ponder the significance of lunar exploration to the future of humanity.

Bio:

Dr. Jamil A. Shariff is an astronomer and public speaker with a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Toronto. As part of his research, he lived at McMurdo Station, Antarctica, for three months, where he helped build and launch a telescope into the stratosphere on a high-altitude helium balloon. This telescope, called Spider, was designed to measure the glow leftover from the heat of the Big Bang. Dr. Shariff is a Member of Technical Staff at MDA Corporation, where he works on robotic hardware for space exploration, including a new Canadarm for the Lunar Orbital-Platform Gateway. When constructed, this space station will orbit the moon and will be the most distant human outpost ever to exist.