Astronomy on Tap, the nationwide phenomenon where professional astronomers give informal science talks with accompanying pub trivia and interactions with the public, will feature astrophysicist Dr. Max Gronke and science communicator Laura-May Abron on Monday, March 22, starting at 6:30 p.m.
Dr. Groke will talk on “Ice and Fire: How Hot and Cold Plasma Coexist around Galaxies. ” Abron will follow with a talk on “2021: A Climate Change Odyssey.”
Max Gronke grew up in Schramberg, in Germany, and moved to Berlin for his undergraduate studies. He later moved to Oslo, Norway, where he obtained his PhD from the Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics in 2017. Currently, he’s a Hubble fellow/postdoc at Johns Hopkins University. Before that, he was at UC Santa Barbara working mainly with astrophysics Professor Siang Peng Oh.
In his spare time, Dr. Gronke enjoys the outdoors and hopes to explore Maryland and the surrounding while living in Baltimore.
French-American Laura-May Abron studied music in Paris, art in London, and astrophysics at the Paris Observatory. She was lead photographer and journalist for lifestyle and art magazine Rise Tattoo Magazine, and guitar magazine Guitar Part. She has written and hosted several science shows centered on climate change and astrophysics, and does voiceover and dubbing for Netflix, ebooks and video games in French and US English.
Her astrophysics-focused art and glasswork have been selected by the Hubble Space Telescope, exhibited at New Scientist Live, Tate Modern and been featured by galleries and creative agencies. In her spare time, Abron loves to chase auroras, tornados and eclipses.
Scientists at Caltech organize the Los Angeles chapter of Astronomy on Tap hosting speakers from many LA-based institutions such as Carnegie Observatories, The Planetary Society, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, UCLA, Griffith Observatory, and others.
Each event consists of two 10- to 15-minute talks on some aspect of astronomy or astrophysics with broad appeal. The guests answer questions from the audience after each talk, and then host astronomically-themed pub trivia with plenty of interaction.
LA’s Astronomy on Tap used to be hosted at Der Wolfskopf in Old Town Pasadena, but since the COVID pandemic began, these events have moved to YouTube Live, on Monday a month, at 7:30 p.m. They hope to return onsite as soon as it’s safe to do so.
Watch the interaction on Caltech’s Astro YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/c/CaltechAstro
For more information about our future events and other astronomy events in Caltech’s lecture+stargazing series, visit www.astro.caltech.edu/
The event is free and open to all ages.
