Explore the Universe During Front Row with Scott Ransom and Harry Smith

Central College and Pella Corporation will welcome Scott Ransom, astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and research professor in the astronomy department at the University of Virginia, for a conversation with Harry Smith, a 1973 Central graduate, award-winning broadcast journalist and internationally renowned storyteller.

Ransom will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 11, in Douwstra Auditorium on Central's campus. The event is free and open to the public and campus community.

Smith calls Ransom "that rare scientist who can make astrophysics understandable for everyone." Dr. Ransom has dedicated his career to uncovering the secrets of the universe. His work on exotic pulsars is challenging what we know about space, time and gravity.
This event promises more than a lecture - it's a chance to sit in the front row with two leaders in their fields as they dive into the power of discovery, curiosity and the future of science.

About Ransom:
Ransom earned a Hertz Foundation Fellowship for his Ph.D. while still a cadet at West Point. After completing a master's degree in astronomy at Harvard University, he served nearly six years as a U.S. Army field artillery officer. He then returned to Harvard, where he completed his Ph.D. in 2001 with a dissertation on new techniques for finding binary pulsars. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University in Montreal, he joined the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in 2004 as a staff astronomer.