Science in the Cinema – Screen Hidden Figures

At this year’s Science in the Cinema, we will be watching the movie Hidden Figures, which tells the story of the vital role female African American mathematicians played in getting the U.S. space program off the ground in the early 1960s. Midway we’ll stop for discussion with local scientists and experts on topics related to the movie, with some pizza to see us through the rest of the evening.

Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker

Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker uses novel radio telescopes to explore the Universe at some of the longest wavelengths of light. Her work has revealed the radio glow of our own Milky Way galaxy, ancient cosmic explosions, as well as hundreds of thousands of distant galaxies via “radio color” surveys, observed across such a wide range of frequencies that the unique spectrum of every object can be used to understand its underlying physics. For her science, work in gender equity, and outreach activities, she has been named a WA Tall Poppies Scientist of the Year (2017), an ABC Top 5 Scientist (2018) and a Superstar of STEM (2019–2020). She works at the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research and is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow.

Harrison Caddy

Harrison Caddy is a biomedical engineer and PhD candidate at the Harry Perkins Institute for Medical Research who has an interest in understanding how the cardiovascular system responds to extreme environments, including spaceflight conditions and elevated heat stress. His research involves developing three-dimensional fluid mechanics simulations of human and animal micro blood vessel networks to aid planning for future planetary missions to the Moon and Mars, as well as improve health screening methods for terrestrial workers such as those in military training and operations, and remote environments.”

Professor Jingbo Wang

Prof Wang is Director of the QUISA Research Hub (https://quisa.tech/) hosted at UWA, leading an active group in quantum information, simulation, and algorithm development. Her research team pioneered quantum walk-based algorithms to solve problems of practical importance otherwise intractable, which include complex network analysis, combinatorial optimisation, and quantum information processing.  Prof Wang is also the Head of Physics Department, Deputy Head of School of Physics, Mathematics and Computing, and Chair of QST (Quantum Science and Technology) Topical Group of the Australian Institute of Physics.

$7.50 (incl pizza and a $0.50 booking fee/ticket added prior to payment). Book online now https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=785317&

Contact Details

kimberley.wang@uwa.edu.au