Welcome to our Science discovery lecture series page, “How the Universe Works!“
The UBC Department of Physics & Astronomy has partnered with the Vancouver Public Library (VPL) to bring you a fun and accessible science series for adults who are curious about science, cutting-edge research and new discoveries that affect our lives. Presentations are by UBC Faculty of Science researchers and instructors, as well as local guest speakers, who come from a variety of science departments. We hope you enjoy this learning space that brings you into the science conversation.
All lectures are held in-person at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch, in the Alice Mackay room (downstairs).
To Register:
Please register on the VPL webpage if you want to come!
Go to the VPL webpage here: in the search bar, you can enter “science” to bring up all future science events, or “how the universe works” to bring up this specific event. Registration is free!
2026 Series Schedule
- January 22, 2026: Particle Physics! with Dr. Alison Lister, PHAS faculty.
- February 12th, 2026: The physics of car racing! with Dr. Andre Marziali, Director of the UBC Engineering Physics program.
- March 26th, 2026: [TBD]
- April 23, 2026: A journey into theoretical physics with Dr. Philip Stamp, PHAS faculty.
- May December 5, 2024: Astrochemistry! with Ilsa Cooke.
- June 25th, 2026: AI and Robotics with Dylan Gunn from the UBC Engineering Physics project lab.
Summer break! We take a holiday break for the months of July and august. See you in September!
- September 17th, 2026: [topic TBD] with Dr. Arif Babul from the University of Victoria.
- October [date/speaker TBD]
- November [date/speaker TBD]
- December December 5, 2024
2025 Series Schedule
2025 Series Schedule
- Jan 30: The Sky is Falling! All about Space Junk, with Dr. Aaron Boley, PHAS faculty and Co-Director of the Outer Space Institute. RSVP here. Poster download here.
- Feb 20: Eclipses – Lunar Eclipse, 2025, with Dr. Thomas Rennie, PHAS Post-doctoral Fellow. RSVP here. Poster download here.
- March 20: Exoplanets – the Search for Habitable Planets in Our Solar System, with Dr. Michelle Kunimoto, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
- April 24: “The Milky Way: Our place in the universe“, with Dr. Allison Man, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
- May 15: “Quantum mechanics: the music of the universe“, with Dr. Mark Van Raamsdonk, PHAS faculty. RSVP here. Poster download here.
- June 19: “An introduction to Radio Astronomy“, with Dr. Thomas Rennie, PHAS Post-doctoral Fellow. RSVP here. Poster download here.
*SUMMER BREAK: We take a holiday break for the months of July and August. See you in September!*
- September 25: “Beautiful Black Holes“, with Dr. Jess McIver, PHAS faculty. RSVP here.
- October 9: “Putting the ‘Super’ in Superconductivity“, with Dr. Alannah Hallas, PHAS faculty and QMI Hallas Group Research lead. RSVP here.
- November 20: “How did the Universe begin?“, with Dr. Mark Halpern, PHAS faculty. RSVP here.
- December 11: “The Physics of Christmas“, with Dr. Douglas Scott, PHAS faculty. RSVP here.
We believe science is for everyone and we need everyone in science! Thank you for joining us!
Reviews
Thank you everyone who has shared feedback on this event! Here are some comments collected from VPL re: the How the Universe Works talks:
“An educational and engaging lecture”
“It was stimulating and interactive”
“Great presentation and presenter! Made complex ideas easy for an amateur to understand and created foundation for further learning”
“It was pretty meaningful experience, it inspired me a lot to pursue my goal to be an engineer! Thank you so much to everyone who supported this meaningful session! Cheers!”
“Very valuable community presentation, great!”
