"The cosmic distance ladder" - Public Lecture given by Terry Tao

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Terry Tao
The cosmic distance ladder
The lecture is 6.30-7.30pm Tuesday 27 August,
University of Canterbury, Jack Mann Auditorium, College of Education.
How do we know the distances from the earth to the sun and moon, from the sun to the other planets, and from the sun to other stars and distant galaxies? Clearly we cannot measure these directly. Nevertheless there are many indirect methods of measurement, combined with basic high-school mathematics, which can allow one to get quite convincing and accurate results without the need for advanced technology (for instance, even the ancient Greeks could compute the distances from the earth to the sun and moon to moderate accuracy). These methods rely on climbing a "cosmic distance ladder", using measurements of nearby distances to then deduce estimates on distances slightly further away; we shall discuss several of the rungs in this ladder in this talk.
For more information including a full biography on Terry see New Zealand Mathematical Society website
http://nzmathsoc.org.nz/?itinerary;

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Born in Adelaide, Australia in 1975, Terry was a child prodigy, publishing his first paper at age 15, and graduating from Flinders University with his Masters at age 16 and from Princeton University with his PhD at age 20. Terry has won numerous awards including the Fields Medal, mathematics equivalent of the Nobel Prize.