Science Outreach

RECENT STUFF:

Nov 2020: NEW PAPER!! A paper I wrote to describe the development of the travelling exhibition "Above and Beyond – Making sense of the Universe for 100 years" was published in a special issue of the Communicating Astronomy with the Public Journal. Hope the lessons learnt are useful for similar projects in the future.

August 2020: Back on stage, briefly and keeping safe distance, with space stories and poetry (by the great Mariangela Gualtieri and Tracy K. Smith) as part of our Good-bye Concert at De Tanker in Noord, Amsterdam. Stay safe everybody!

June 2020: Watch the replay of a live presentation I gave on 'Bepi Colombo, Cosmic Distances and Perspectives' as part of super/science, a series of online seminars about scientific topics organised by the UK-based art collective super/collider.

May 2020: A new edition of the Space Sarau at Teatro Munganga, Amsterdam, was sadly cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic.

April 2020: To support science teachers in Italy during the difficult times imposed by the current pandemic, I offered a series of online webinars about astronomy and space science to students of Liceo Scientifico Giovanni Da Procida in my hometown, Salerno.

Nov & Dec 2019: A music show inspired by astronomy, Sounds of Interstellar Space by the Dutch trio Trifid, has been touring unconventional venues (universities, museums and astronomical observatories) across the Netherlands combining latin-jazz tunes, astronomy lectures and star-gazing (weather permitting), with some support by me curating the story arch -- and delivering two of the 15 lectures, at the ArtEZ art and music academy in Arnhem and at the Technical University in Eindhoven.

PAST EVENTS:
August 2019: The science and epics collaboration with LUSTRI teatro goes further, as we take the show 'Ulisse Mentitore' in a new form – a dialogue between an astrophysicist and a classicist – to the celebrated theatre festival Segreti d'Autore in one of the most beautiful places on the planet: Cilento, just south of my hometown Salerno. Here we talk about it with the reporters from Radio Siani (photo on the left by Ivan Nocera).

November 2018: A new version of the Science-Art Slam, the Space Sarau, premiered at Teatro Munganga, Amsterdam. A “sarau” is a gathering where people meet and share a variety of cultural and artistic expressions, including stories, music, poems and more. We borrowed this typical Brazilian concept and extended it to outer space: a group of astrophysics researchers shared their stories about studying stars, galaxies and the Universe as a whole, while musicians and other artists took these stories as inspiration for their creations.

October 2018: The science and epics collaboration with LUSTRI teatro continues, with three shows featuring Enzo Marangelo, Stefano Amendola and myself telling the story of Ulysses the liar's journey – Il viaggio di Ulisse mentitore. My personal touch takes the 'hero' across the history of the cosmos. As part of the Patrimoni InLUSTRI mini festival at Complesso Monumentale di Santa Chiara in Solofra, between Avellino and Salerno, in the South of Italy.

August 2018: The travelling exhibition Above and Beyond – Making sense of the Universe for 100 years opened in Vienna at the IAU General Assembly, and will travel to several European cities, providing a journey through a century of astronomical research and its broader impact on technology and culture. I'm happy to have collaborated on exhibition content, format and texts.

January 2018: Together with planetary scientist Arianna Piccialli, we organised an astronomy workshops for kids aged 6-8 years old at the Italian bookshop Piola libri in Brussels (in italian) --> L'universo in bicicletta

November 2017: I joined Arte na sala, a project to share stories, experiences, feelings, emotions, dreams, actions, organised by dancer Nicolle Vieira at Teatro Munganga, Amsterdam. The theme was "indoor" so I took the concept to the extreme and, of course, told a story about the Universe.

May 2017: The Science-Art Slam is back! The third edition of this exciting evening mixing art & science, featuring exotic astrophysical phenomena, free improvised music and science-inspired veejay-ing. At Mixtree, OT301, Amsterdam.

January 2017:

I joined a terrific evening of epics and science in the framework of LUSTRI teatro, an amazing theatre festival organised in Solofra, a small town in the south of Italy, not far from my hometown, Salerno. While Ancient Greek literature professor Stefano Amendola explained the story-telling tricks used by Homer to tell Ulysses' journey and actor Enzo Marangelo read passages from the Odyssey (feat. Aeolus and the Laestrygonians), I decided to talk about the voyage of photons in the Universe and compare it to Ulysses' journey - a very interesting experiment!

September 2016:

  • I was the guest of the very witty podcast "Astro et al." by Chilean astronomy communicator Ricardo Garcia on the topic "Rosetta and Philae, expect the unexpected". You can listen to the episode here (in English).

  • A while ago, fellow astronomer and science communicator Dunja Fabian interviewed me about the public outreach campaign of the Rosetta mission. The interview (in Slovenian) was published on the science magazine Presek and on the astronomy news site Portal vvesolje.

  • Planetario Medellín (Colombia) invited me to join the live Twitter event "¡Adiós Rosetta! El final de la misión en 15 tuits" and answer questions voted by the online community about the 'grand finale' of Rosetta... in the end, it was a little longer than 15 tweets :) You can read a transcript of the Q&A session on Storify (in Spanish).

Note: My photo with a model of Rosetta's Comet 67P (above) was taken by awesome artist Ekaterina Smirnova.

June 2016:

  • Wow! I was awarded the International Prize Principessa Sichelgaita, which honours women from my hometown/province of Salerno who excelled in the fields of science, art, culture and business. This was so humbling... During the ceremony, I dedicated my prize to all women and members of all minority groups who are struggling to make their contribution to science worldwide.

  • Together with in-house resident musician Renato Ferreira, I organised a rather experimental science-themed concert about the history of the Universe: "Improvvisazioni cosmiche" ("Cosmic improvisations") @ EcoBistrot, Salerno. We shocked the audience quite a bit - not sure whether it was the extended techniques on the saxophone or the surprising revelations about dark matter :)

May 2016: During the Communicating Astronomy with the Public conference in Medellín, Colombia, I gave an invited talk about the communication campaign run by ESA and its partners to promote the comet-chasing mission, Rosetta. What an exciting conference, held at an amazing venue: Parque Explora, a cutting-edge science centre with a terrific planetarium!

I was even interviewed about it by Nicolás Congote for the colombian newspaper El Tiempo :)

April 2016: I organised the second edition of the Science-Art Slam, inviting computer scientists to tell stories to inspire a group of musicians and improvisers on the topic: Thinking Machines & Artificial Life – @ Mixtree, OT301, Amsterdam. Watch an example on YouTube of one of the stories told and interpreted that evening!

March 2016: Delighted to have been included in a very interesting article by Ilaria Lonigro about women and space on the online version of the Italian magazine "D - Repubblica".

January 2016: Last year I contributed two posts to the International Year of Light 2015 blog on one of my top favourite astronomy research stories, the discovery and further study of the Cosmic Microwave Background (blog post n.1 and n.2). Now they've been wrapped into one article and included in the very nice book, "Inspired by Light: Reflections from the International Year of Light 2015". You can download a digital copy of the book here.

3 December 2015: I organised (and performed in - see picture on the left!) the first edition of the Science-Art Slam: an evening where scientists and artists meet, and stories about research leave the laboratory to become inspiration for musicians, dancers and visual artists! The topic of the first experiment was: Cosmic Tales – @ Mixtree, OT301, Amsterdam

6 November 2015: I was honoured to be invited to talk about light in astronomy at the International Year of Light session of the World Science Forum organised by UNESCO @ Budapest. Here's a video recording of my presentation.

13 August 2015: On the occasion of the perihelion of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is currently visited by ESA's spacecraft Rosetta, I was the online guest (through skype) during the public observation night @Planetarium in Anzi (PZ, Italy), talking about the wonderful things that scientists have learned during the past year at the comet.

31 March 2015: Back to my old high school, Liceo T.Tasso in Salerno, Italy, to give a lecture about "Discovering the Universe: from the big bang to comets" ("Alla scoperta dell'universo: dal big bang alle comete") to a mix of 9th and 12-13th grade students.

18 March 2015: I gave a lecture in Italian about astronomy and the Universe, as an experiment for a possible astronomy course to practice Italian @ language school Studiolingua, Amsterdam

26 February 2015: I've been invited by the amazing improv actors and comedians Rob Allen and Ryan Miller to be the "science expert" on the first episode of their new live comedy show: The Big Ideas Show: SPACE - at Mixtree/OT301, Amsterdam. Needless to say, it was a big cosmic joke :)

30 December 2014: I finally went back to a theatre stage! Writing and performing in "Un'insolita cometa di Natale" ("Not your usual Christmas comet") - A theatrical-scientific journey through the history of comets, with the incredible Andrea Carraro from the theatre "Il Giullare" in Salerno, Italy (a collaboration with the alumni association Ex-allievi Tasso)October 2014:

  • I was honoured to give a public talk about the history of comets & the Rosetta mission at the Italian Cultural Institute in Amsterdam

  • Explaining the Planck mission @ ESA/ESTEC Open Day (link)

August 2014: Using the powers of this thing called 'the internet', I hosted a couple of the "Astronomical nights" @ the Dolomiti Observatory (Madonna di Campiglio, Italy) while sitting at home in Amsterdam, through G+Hangout. Funny to see your audience in a tiny little corner of your screen! Unfortunately, it was cloudy on both nights, so no observations :( Looking forward to visiting them again, or to operating their telescope (remotely) next year.

July 2014: I was invited to give a public talk about the history of comets and our favourite space mision this year, Rosetta, at the Planetarium in Anzi (close to Potenza, in the south of Italy). The planetarium is on top of a hill overviewing an amazing and solitary valley - gorgeous! And they have a neat observatory too!

June 2014: Great news! The students from Salerno won two prizes for their project "Mitiche stelle" - a special prize for the quality of the content, and the popular jury prize (with over 1000 votes!) Congrats!

April 2014: The students of the class I-A from the high school Liceo Scientifico Da Vinci in Salerno, Italy, interviewed me as part of their project "Mitiche stelle" (= Mythical stars) to participate in the contest Policultura organised by Politecnico di Milano (the technical university in Milan, Italy). You can listen to my contribution here: "From Salerno to Amsterdam" (in Italian)

March 2014: Together with Francesca Bocus, we ran a series of astronomy workshops for kids aged 6-10 in Amsterdam (in Italian) --> Check out the blog of this project!

Feb 2014: "A stroll across the Universe": with Laura Schreiber (a fellow astronomer from the Observatory of Bologna) we entertained the guests of the Astronomical nights at the Dolomiti Observatory in Madonna di Campiglio (Italy)

Dec 2013: "Piecing the Universe together" - introductory talk at the final event of the residency of visual artist Joseph Gower in the Pompgemaal, Den Helder, Holland, to set the context for his art piece CMBR_30>857GHz (inspired by the images of the Cosmic Microwave Background by the Planck satellite)

Oct 2013:

  • "100 years of cosmology: the history of the Universe and the Cosmic Microwave Background" - online conference (in Italian) as part of the series Cosmi-conference organised by the Osservatorio comunale “G.D.Cassini” in Perinaldo, Italy. (link to the video on youtube)

  • "Writing the Universe, or: working as a science writer for a major astronomy research organisation" - talk at the "Jobs & Careers" event, Physics Graduate Days at the University of Heidelberg, Germany

  • Explaining the Planck mission @ ESA/ESTEC Open Day (link)

May 2013: A couple of seminars about astronomy to students of scientific/technical subjects in Italy: - Seminar on astrometry (measuring distances to the stars) for civil engineering undergraduate students @ University of Cassino and Southern Lazio- Seminar on cosmology & the formation of elements in the Universe for biology, chemistry and physics graduate students @ Second University of Naples (Caserta)

March 2013: collaboration with the radio project Dub Dub Space - astronomy + music by A.Cortesi & F.Maglioni - Radio Garbino @ Cesena, Italy

Some time in 2013: I was interviewed by Cristina Vezzaro for her column on the Italian/South Tyrolean magazine Franz! You can read the interview here: Meet the Locals #12 – Claudia, 30, astrophysicist and science writer

Oct 2012: Explaining the Herschel mission @ ESA/ESTEC Open Day

--> and here I am, explaining how space telescopes work to families at ESA-ESTEC open day (Noordwijk, NL, October 2012)

Sept 2012: art exhibition Cose Cosmiche in Milan (link), where artists and scientists met for a few days to perform, discuss, etc. I talked about data and "dimensions" in astronomy.

May 2012: presentations about astronomy for high-school students, amateur astronomers and lay public in my hometown Salerno, Italy.

You can find slides of some of these presentations below.

2007–2009: While I was busy with my PhD in Heidelberg, I also took part in a couple of community outreach events in order to engage the general public (mostly families and children) with science and astronomy. Lots of fun!

PRESENTATIONS FOR THE PUBLIC:

In the meantime, I post here the slides of some presentations about astronomy intended for a rather general public:

-------Le dimensioni extra dell'astronomia (Sept 2012 - in Italian)transl: Extra dimensions in astronomyA 30-minute presentation about data in astronomy and how to account for "extra dimensions" (e.g. distance, time, colour). Aimed at a mixed audience including, in particular, visual artists and musicians, but also scientists and people from many other backgrounds.(--> this presentation was largely inspired by Alyssa A. Goodman's paper "Principles of High-Dimensional Data Visualization in Astronomy" --> link to paper)

-------Dietro le quinte dell'Universo: dai segreti del cosmo alla comunicazione dell'astronomia (May 2012 - in Italian)transl: Behind the scenes of the Universe: from cosmic secrets to astronomy outreachA 45-minute presentation about cosmic scales - from the solar system to the Galaxy and the entire Universe - which also includes thoughts about two possible careers for astronomers (research at phd level & science outreach).Aimed at high-school students.

-------Al di là del visibile: tutti i "colori" dell'Universo (May 2012 - in Italian)transl: Beyond visible light: the Universe in all its "colours"A 30-minute presentation about astronomy across the elctromagnetic spectrum.Aimed at a mixed audience including amateur astronomers, high-school students and general public.(--> if you like to read more about this topic, have a look at the series of articles about astronomy across the electromagnetic spectrum --> link to articles)

-------Solar System, Galaxy, Universe: Cosmic Environments (Feb 2010)A 10-minute presentation about different cosmic scales and objects - from the solar system to the Galaxy and the entire Universe - in the framework of the one force that unifies them all: gravity.Aimed at a general audience, including adults and families with children as young as 5.

-------The History of Gravitational Lensing (July 2006)A 3-minute presentation about the phenomenon of light being bent by the gravitational potential of massive objects, focussing on the historical development of the concept from theory and, eventually, its observational discovery.Aimed at an audience of undergraduate/graduate students with diverse backgrounds.