Cosmetic Alchemy: How the Universe made the heaviest elements
Dr. Erika Holmbeck
Tuesday May 12th 2020 - 7:00 pm ET
Online Streaming
Where alchemists of the past failed to transform iron into gold, the Universe has succeeded!
Join us as Erika Holmbeck, Ph.D. describes how cosmic stellar collisions can create the heaviest elements in the periodic table, from precious metals through to the heaviest radioactive elements. Discover how simulations of colliding neutron stars are giving astronomers an insight into the exact conditions needed to generate these elements, and how measuring the stars where we find these heaviest elements can tell us which types of stellar collisions are capable of cosmic alchemy.