About us
Our Cosmos is a science advocacy group whose purpose is to promote community engagement and interest in all aspects of the Cosmos and to foster intellectual curiosity. Activities include exploring the fields of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics (STEAM), environmental science and medicine. Although originally oriented more toward the hard sciences, we now have expanded our focus to include science-related social issues such as public health, conservation, and the environment. Our Cosmos strives to bring attention to information, people, and organizations that will advance knowledge, benefit society and improve the way we live. It was inspired by the world renowned late astronomer and science popularizer, Dr. Carl Sagan.
The primary focus is through an edutainment (education and entertainment) platform; e.g. stage venues, lectures, hands-on exhibits, and tours of geological/archaeological/astronomical/other sites.
Most in-person activities are centered in the Orange County/Los Angeles greater metropolitan areas. This Meetup was designed to create a real, face-to-face community. Friends and family are always invited except for certain events due to space limitation. Our Platform involves meeting real people and doing real things in the real world.
Since the start of the pandemic in 2020 we have been presenting a wide array of webinars, talks, and other online events from all over the world. There is a rich and diverse range of offerings online and we will continue to present these to you.
Having said that, the focus of the group remains in-person events.
We encourage our members to contact us with ideas for events!
One Last Thing!
The goal is for each event to be interesting and memorable for everyone. Some events require reserving places for those who have RSVP'd or meeting at a specific place so that we all go as a group. If you are signed up and do not show up, you are a No-Show. If this is a habit, you may be blocked from signing up for some events or even removed from the group. Generally we only allow two or three No-Shows before doing this. We ask that you please be responsible and communicative so the rest of the group does not end up waiting for you when you aren't coming. No-Shows include last-minute cancellations for events with waiting lists.
Upcoming events
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Free Webinar: Twelve Trees (Virtual)
·OnlineOnlineOnline event by Linda Hall Library:
Date: April 20, 5 PM PDT
Free, but you must register here: https://events.lindahall.org/twelvetreesvirtual
Daniel Lewis, the Dibner Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in Southern California, takes us on a sweeping journey to plant breeding labs, botanical gardens, research facilities, deep inside museum collections, to the tops of tall trees, underwater, and around the Earth, journeying into the deserts of the American west and the deep jungles of Peru, to offer a globe-spanning perspective on the crucial impact trees have on our entire planet.
When a once-common tree goes extinct in the wild but survives in a botanical garden, what happens next? How can scientists reconstruct lost genomes and habitats? How does a tree store thousands of gallons of water, or offer up perfectly preserved insects from millions of years ago, or root itself in muddy swamps and remain standing? How does a 5,000-year-old tree manage to live, and what can we learn from it? And how can science account for the survival of one species at the expense of others? Twelve Trees “brims with wonder, appreciation, and even some small hope” (Booklist) and is an awe-inspiring story of our world, its past, and its future.The speaker:
Daniel Lewis, PhD
Dibner Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Daniel Lewis is the Huntington Library’s Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology. He holds the PhD in History and has had post-doctoral appointments at Oxford University, the Smithsonian, and the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society in Munich. Dan was responsible for the exhibition “Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World,” which opened in 2008 and ran until 2020. More than three million people visited the show, which was named as the best exhibit in America by the American Alliance of Museums the year after it opened.
Dr. Lewis is also an environmental historian and college professor, with a faculty appointment at Caltech, where he teaches courses in environmental history and humanities. In a strange turn, he also won an Emmy in 2020. His latest book, Twelve Trees, which came out in March 2024, was published by Simon & Schuster. Chapters have been excerpted in Time magazine, the Smithsonian magazine, Scientific American, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere. He was interviewed by Ari Shapiro for All Things Considered the day the book came out, and has appeared on radio shows from Canada to Australia to Oregon to San Francisco to North Carolina. There are also two different Chinese translations of the book underway. This is his fourth book.OUR HISTORY
Since 1946, students, researchers, academic institutions, and businesses have used our collections to learn, invent, explore, and be inspired.ABOUT THE LIBRARY
A leading independent science research library, the Linda Hall Library brings science, engineering, and technology to life in new and relevant ways.WEBSITE: https://www.lindahall.org/about/
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