Folger Shakespeare Library is joining forces with Nerd Nite for a special event on Friday, September 15, 2017. Tickets are $10 and now on sale. Join us at the Folger Shakespeare Library as Nerd Nite makes it way to Capitol Hill for an evening exploring all of the nerdy ways science and humanities can combine to make great things happen. Our lecturers will take you to Hollywood with the National Academy of Science’s Science and Entertainment Exchange, into the vaults of libraries around the globe to uncover the secrets behind Shakespeare’s coat of arms, and to 20th century Europe as physicist Lise Meitner comes alive on stage.
The event will feature food carts and beer and wine for patrons 21+. (Oh, and we’re still having our regularly scheduled Nerd Nite at DC9 on Saturday, September 9.) How a Battle Between Two Violent Heralds 400 Years Ago Helps Us Understand Shakespeare Just a Little Bit More… or, How a Headline Got Me in Trouble with the Anti-Shakespeareans by Heather Wolfe
Compared to most people from 400 years ago, we know a ton about Shakespeare We know when he and his children were baptized, married, and buried. We know the house where he was born, what school he attended, where he lived in retirement, and the church where he was buried. We can read his will, property deeds, and tax records, as well as his plays and poetry and the commentary of contemporary critics and admirers of his work. We also have a set of documents, some of them recently discovered, that reveal Shakespeare’s desire to create a lasting reputation for himself and his daughters’ families, through the acquisition of a coat of arms. Heather Wolfe takes us deep into the archives to tell the sordid tale of the cantankerous herald who granted Shakespeare’s father a coat of arms in the first place and the equally cantankerous herald who attempted to discredit the grant. Along the way, she’ll explain how the media’s obsession with the Shakespeare authorship question forced her to defend and explain the manuscript evidence very, very, very carefully.
Heather Wolfe is curator of manuscripts at the Folger Shakespeare Library, where she has worked since 2000. She learned how to read and love Renaissance handwriting and manuscripts while getting her PhD in Renaissance English Literature at the University of Cambridge, followed by an MLIS at UCLA. She’s the curator of shakespearedocumented.org and the principal investigator behind Early Modern Manuscripts Online (emmo.folger.edu), a project in its early stages to crowdsource, transcribe, and publish online as many English manuscripts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as humanly possible. When she’s not in the vault, she’s seeking out new local breweries, sleeping in the woods, and training for long distance races. How Lise Meitner’s Discovery of Nuclear Fission Still Inspires Astronomers to Lift the Last Star Stuff Secrets by Anna Frebel
In December 1938, Lise Meitner discovered the process of nuclear fission. Having fled to Sweden to escape anti-Jewish persecution, the Austrian-German physics professor changed the course of science and the world in many ways. Through a living history portrayal by MIT astrophysicist Anna Frebel, the audience will participate in this discovery and its consequences. The scene then changes to 2017. Astrophysicists use cosmic objects and modern knowledge on fission to finally complete, some 80 years later, our understanding of the production of all the heaviest elements in the periodic table.
Anna Frebel is an Associate Professor of Physics at MIT. She received her PhD from the Australian National University and did postdoctoral work at the University of Texas (Austin) and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. For her research into the oldest stars in the universe and the early evolution of the chemical elements, she has received numerous scientific awards. In 2016, she was named one of ScienceNews Magazine’s 10 scientists to watch. She is the co-founder of STEM on Stage, a STEAM initiative to promote narrative science through living history theater and film. Frebel is also the author of the popular science book Searching for the Oldest Stars: AncientRelics from the Early Universe.
Science & Hollywood: Star-crossed Lovers Find Happiness (At Last) by Ann G. Merchant
Ann G. Merchant joins us from The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, perhaps one of the nerdiest places to work in all of Washington, DC and Ann Merchant has been there for… well, for a really long time, so she would know. But nerds are pretty glamorous these days and geeks are super chic so it may not be especially surprising that her job as the Deputy Executive Director for Communications is actually pretty cool. When she’s not hanging out in Einstein’s lap chatting about E=mc^2 and gravitational waves with visitors who come by the National Academy of Sciences building for a photo of the famous bronzed scientist, she’s at her desk (or more likely on an airplane) working on a variety of innovative outreach programs that are designed to make people fall in love with science.
In 2008, she spiked the water in a committee meeting with a secret combination of tasteless herbs and roots that made the attendees strangely agreeable and especially brave and got everyone to vote yes on launching a formal collaboration between the NAS and members of the Hollywood creative community. Or maybe it was the data and research she provided that demonstrated the power that film and television have to influence public perceptions, attitudes, and even behavior. Regardless, The Science & Entertainment Exchange was born and she was ultimately instrumental in launching and now overseeing this program that connects entertainment industry professionals with top scientists and engineers. She does lots of other stuff too but no one really cares about that because The Exchange is way more interesting.
After you spend the day soaking up the sun, join us for an evening celebrating summer as we learn about the science of BBQ and what inspires mimes when they are not busking in front of boardwalk masses. Like any summer soiree, we’ll bring out old friends and welcome new ones like our MC for the evening – Ben Taylor. He recently moved here from Wisconsin, where he served as Boss of Nerd Nite Madison for 3 years. He has a degree in entomology, is currently working as the Youth Programs Assistant at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and has been stung in the face twice at one time. We are sure you guys are going to get along swell! And our third speaker is running fashionably late but we’ll do introductions night of. So for this August edition of Nerd Nite DC – be there and be square
You Don’t Win Friends With Salad: The History and Science of Barbecue By Jason Day
Ever stand around a grill in the blazing summer heat and wonder why this is a thing? And why do we call it a BBQ grill when we usually make burgers on it, while at BBQ restaurants they serve pork ribs, brisket, or sausage? And why does your meat turn brown when you leave it in the fridge for too long? These questions and more will be answered as we explore how this quintessential American tradition is tied together with science, politics, and the history of the United States.
Bio: Jason Day is a science advisor for the Department of Defense, a former legislative director for Rep. Dan Lipinski, and a native Texan who has hosted dozens of barbecues over the years. Jason has a Ph.D. in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where it’s scant on barbecue, but the beer and bratwursts make up for it.
Winged Weight: A Mime Speaks!” by Jack Voelker
Let’s explore the history of mime from its origins to present day, looking at what it is exactly that defines the art. What busking talk is complete without giving a live lesson in the basics of mime to some audience volunteers? What is a mime? WHY is a mime? And how do you become one?
Bio: THE Jack of All Trades, Jack Voelker once tried to steal a goose from a giant only to discover geese are actually gigantic assholes. On a regular day, you can find Jack splitting his time between performance art, digital art, contemplating the void, confusing straight people, and calculating how many large dogs he can fit in his one-bedroom apartment.
Paddle On! Tales & Science from the Mighty Mississippi
In a 4 month expedition, Alyssum became the second woman to solo kayak the Mississippi River from source to sea. Along the way, she documented plastic waste and water quality. And lived a seriously muddy life.
Bio: Alyssum’s love and appreciation of the natural world began at an early age as her family raised rabbits, built a home in the Kentucky hills sandwiched between State Park and National Forest, and then took a year to live aboard a sailboat. She holds a B.S. in biology from the University of Kentucky, an M.A. in international environmental Policy from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and spent several years in veterinary school. She is now working on a memoir of her many adventures.
Ah, summer! The chirping of birds, the hiking of trails, the abject nerdery! This month, we’re celebrating all the great outdoors has to offer, including in our own backyard. Nerd Nite will give you your own special guide to our city’s fine and sometimes-questionable statuary, we’ll get a behind-the-scenes, under-the-ground look at the National Mall, and take deep breath…we’ll learn about what’s up with our humid, sometime’s kinda funky air. Here’s to kicking off a very nerdy summer!
Date: Saturday June 10th, Time: Doors 6:00PM, Show 6:30PM Where: DC9, 1940 9th St NW Tickets: $10 at DC9’s ticket sales site.
This is a 21+ event. Who’s That Dead White Guy on a Horse? (And Other Pressing Questions About DC’s Statues)” by Jess Unger
When is the last time you stopped to admire one of our stone and metal neighbors? The statues of our city deserve our attention, if only to figure out why we share so much real estate with them. Who decided these figures were worth honoring, and why were these particular forms selected? Taken as a whole, the figures represented in DC’s statues tell an interesting story about our priorities as a city (and a nation). Taken as individuals, well – let’s just say you’ll be surprised at who made the cut.
Jess Unger (@jessunger) spends her days at the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation, helping to connect cultural heritage institutions with emergency planning resources. She enjoys taking close up photos of the city’s statues to determine who is making the weirdest face (Jackson is currently winning).
The Sodfather’s Guide to Sustainable Turf on The National Mall by Michael Stachowicz
Turf, grass, and lawns get a bad rap. Many people tie maintenance of this plant to snobby country clubs, suburbia, and other high maintenance examples, it is also the surface that we gather to relax, play, picnic, and build community. Nothing exemplifies the cross section of these two extremes more than the National Mall. We want this iconic landscape to exemplify our pride and competence, and we want to use it unreservedly for community activities, not least of which is expression of our First Amendment rights. Can we have both and be sustainable? Recent reconstruction of the Mall was more than just a sod job. Every aspect was evaluated as a way to keep grass alive in America’s most trafficked park including design, construction, and permit conditions. This talk will go behind the scenes on how the most recognizable lawn in America was rebuilt to be sustainable.
Following graduation from University of Massachusetts, Michael (@mwstack) embarked on a career of building, renovating, and caring for golf courses, combining highest levels of landscape operations while spending other peoples’ money. But then he became an evangelist for authenticity , eventually writing articles tying historic design principles advocated by Frederick Law Olmsted to golf courses and raging against Disney-fication of our landscapes. This sparked a yearning to be part of landscapes that mattered to a wider audience, not just the privileged few. So, after a career in managing golf course operations for the Vineyard Vine wearing country club set that caused him to lose his hair and not be able to sleep more than four hours at a time – Michael took his love for maintaining and building landscapes to the National Park Service when the opportunity presented itself to care for the “America’s Front Lawn.”
Having a bad air day? by Gretchen Goldman
Do you ever walk outside and wonder… why does the air look dirty today? Should I be breathing this? And, like Ralph Wiggum, do you ever wonder, why does it smell like burning? You’ve just encountered a bad-air day! But what makes air “bad”? It could be run-of-the-mill fossil fuel burning or it could be the trees or it could be a carpet fire (which are completely unrelated to metaphorical dumpster fires). After this talk, you could know the difference! So get ready for some atmospheric and ground-level science, learn how the air can affect us in ways we don’t even understand yet, and what new secrets scientists are uncovering about the very air we breathe.
Gretchen Goldman (@GretchenTG) is the research director at the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, where she studies how science is used and misused in policy making. When she’s not chasing around her one-year-old son, Gretchen can be found biking across Washington, DC and planning her next adventure. She holds a PhD and MS in environmental engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a BS in atmospheric science from Cornell University.
How a Battle Between Two Violent Heralds 400 Years Ago Helps Us Understand Shakespeare Just a Little Bit More… or, How a Headline Got Me in Trouble with the Anti-Shakespeareans by Heather Wolfe
How Lise Meitner’s Discovery of Nuclear Fission Still Inspires Astronomers to Lift the Last Star Stuff Secrets by Anna Frebel
Science & Hollywood: Star-crossed Lovers Find Happiness (At Last) by Ann G. Merchant
