Episode 3 – How Old Is Water?
In this episode of H2whOa!, hosts Dr. Elizabeth Dougherty and Dr. Ted Hullar examine the true age of water with astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb of Harvard University and wind-and-water sculpture artist Douglas Hollis.
Guests
Abraham (Avi) Loeb is the Frank B. Baird, Jr., Professor of Science at Harvard University and a bestselling author (in lists of the New York Times,Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, L’Express and more). He received a PhD in Physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel at age 24 (1980-1986), led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative (1983-1988), and was subsequently a long-term member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton (1988-1993).
Loeb has written 8 books, including most recently, Extraterrestrial (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021), and about 800 papers (with an h-index of 113) on a wide range of topics, including black holes, the first stars, the search for extraterrestrial life and the future of the Universe.
He had been the longest serving Chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy (2011-2020), Founding Director of Harvard’s Black Hole Initiative (2016-2021) and Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (2007-present) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics .
He is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. Loeb is a former member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House, a former chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy of the National Academies (2018-2021) and a current member of the Advisory Board for “Einstein: Visualize the Impossible” of the Hebrew University. He also chairs the Advisory Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative (2016-present) and serves as the Science Theory Director for all Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2012, TIME magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space and in 2020 Loeb was selected among the 14 most inspiring Israelis of the last decade.
Douglas Hollis (b. 1948) is an American artist who works with wind- and water-activated sound sculptures, often in site-specific situations. He received his BFA from the University of Michigan and has since created numerous permanent and temporary sound installations around the United States. Working as an artist-in-residence alongside the museum’s founder, the noted physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer, Hollis developed a fascination with sound sculpture and landscape that has persisted throughout his career. Hollis has created permanent works for the Port of Los Angeles, the New Denver Airport, and the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California. His temporary works include commissions for the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the de Young Museum in San Francisco and the San Francisco Art Institute.
Bio Retrieved from exploratorium.edu/arts/artists/douglas_hollis
