About this Event
📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email
🧠 Lecture: "Faster than Light? The Physics of the Cosmic Speed Limit"
🎙️ Speaker: Dr. John Franklin Crenshaw
Faster-than-light travel is a staple of science fiction, promising journeys to distant stars in days instead of decades. But is it actually possible? In this accessible lecture, Dr. John Franklin Crenshaw will explain why the speed of light is more than just a technological hurdle—it is woven into the very structure of our universe, shaping space, time, and even cause and effect.
Together, we’ll examine proposed loopholes like warp drives and wormholes, explore the surprising link between faster-than-light travel and time travel, and consider whether a future revolution in physics could upend everything we think we know—or whether the cosmic speed limit is truly here to stay.
Dr. Crenshaw is a Rubin Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University and SLAC National Lab. He studies the large-scale structure of the universe to uncover clues about fundamental physics and our cosmic origins, and is a leader in the Rubin Observatory and the Dark Energy Science Collaboration.
Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌
Agenda
6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.
6:55 PM – Host introduction
7:00 PM – Lecture begins
7:45 PM – Audience Q&A
8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round
8:30 PM – Wrap up.
Event venue & nearby stays
Nob Hill, Nob Hill, San Francisco, United States
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