VIRTUAL - For the Love of Mars: A Human History of the Red Planet with Smithsonian Curator Matt Shindell

You’re invited to come learn alongside Matt Shindell, National Air and Space Museum curator, as he introduces viewers to historical figures across eras and around the world who have made sense of this mysterious planet. Shindell will highlight historical figures such as: 

• Mayan astrologer priests who incorporated Mars into seasonal calendars and religious ceremonies; 
• Babylonian astrologers who discerned bad omens; 
• figures of the Scientific Revolution who struggled to comprehend it as a world; 
• Victorian astronomers who sought signs of intelligent life; and
• 20th- and 21st-century scientists who have established a technological presence on its surface. 

Along the way, we will encounter writers and artists from each period who take readers and viewers on imagined journeys to Mars.

 By focusing on the diverse human stories behind the telescopes and behind the robots we know and love, Shindell will show how Mars exploration has evolved in ways that have also expanded knowledge about other facets of the universe. Register now for this captivating voyage through time!

Please click here to register.