Profs and Pints Meetup-Metro DC

Profs and Pints DC presents: “America’s Birth Certificate,” an in-depth look at the Declaration of Independence and its impact, with Richard Bell, professor of history at the University of Maryland.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-declaration .]

The Declaration of Independence is a peculiar thing. It’s a literary masterpiece that was written jointly by a committee of fifty people. It’s short and punchy—just 1310 words long—but still somehow daunting and difficult to get a grip on. (There’s a reason most of us have never read it in full and can only quote the first third of its second sentence.)

And what is it exactly? Is it a birth certificate announcing happy news, or a petition for divorce full of grievance and score-settling? Is it aimed at the American people, or King George, or someone else? Was it the first ever declaration of independence, or a cheap imitation of a genre already well established? What did people at the time make of it? What did it change? Why does it still matter?

Rick Bell, a history professor who has given thrilling Profs and Pints talks on the Hamilton musical, the genius of Ben Franklin, and African Americans in the American Revolution, returns to the stage to answer these questions and more. He’ll set this uniquely American civic text in global perspective. He’ll discuss why the Declaration caused barely a ripple when it arrived in London, and how, in the months and years that followed, it became an example and inspiration to revolutionaries across the continent, the ocean, and the globe, with more than 100 other declarations of independence being issued in other parts of the world since 1776.

Our American Revolution—a modest change in political sovereignty in a few out-of-the-way agricultural colonies on the western rim of the Atlantic Ocean—occupies pride of place in the larger history of global decolonization and post-colonialism. You’ll have a much better grasp of why once you’ve learned about the fascinating origins, misunderstood purpose, and extraordinary global legacy of the Declaration of Independence.

Dr. Bell (a Brit with a vicious sense of humor) might even make you reconsider this whole independence thing in the first place. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: “The Declaration of Independence,” painted by John Trumbull in 1818 and on display at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

Profs and Pints DC presents: “Dealing with Space Debris,” on efforts to monitor and clean up the junk we’ve left orbiting Earth, with Mark Skinner, former Penn State University astrophysicist and current senior project manager for space traffic management for the Aerospace Corporation.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-space-debris .]

Over the course of the Space Age we’ve launched thousands of objects into space for scientific research, exploration, and national security reasons. Many have remained in space past their functional lifetime, causing earth to be orbited by millions of defunct dead satellites, rocket bodies, and various remnants of such equipment—what we refer to as “space debris” or “space junk.” It poses a hazard to space missions and, in reentering our atmosphere, us here on Earth.

Blast off to the world of those focused on monitoring and mitigating the risks from space debris with Mark Skinner, an internationally recognized expert on the subject whose decades of research and experience include several years at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex.

In a talk co-sponsored by the Washington D.C. chapter of the Explorers Club, Dr. Skinner will give an overview of the many types of debris floating around out there, which include not just spent rocked bodies and the remains of dead satellites, but also astronauts’ tools, old rocket fuel, liquid metal nuclear reactor coolant, and objects as small and mundane as paint flakes.

He’ll talk about how what we’ve sent into space went from useful to junk, with anti-satellite weapons, internal explosions, and collisions between what’s out there all playing a role. We’ll assess the threat that space debris poses to life and property, both in space and on the ground, and see pictures of man-made objects that have returned to Earth and clearly would have done serious damage to anyone beneath them.

You’ll learn about national and international efforts to monitor space debris and the various government agencies, private companies, telescopes, radars, satellites, and sensor networks involved in the task. We’ll look at efforts to mitigate the problem, which include agreements to de-orbit spent satellites or otherwise prevent debris creation and to make satellites more visible. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: A 2017 European Space Agency illustration of a satellite breaking up in orbit.

Profs and Pints DC presents: “The Physics of Baseball,” with Scott Paulson, professor of physics and interdisciplinary liberal studies at James Madison University.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/dc-physics-baseball .]

Profs and Pints is offering baseball fans an even bigger treat than Cracker Jack, an exploration of the physics underlying their beloved sport.

Professor Scott Paulson, who regularly teaches introductory physics classes that make the physics behind real-world phenomena accessible to all, will discuss the forces and phenomena that come into play in baseball during pitching, batting, and fielding. He’ll toss you basic physics concepts that help explain how baseball’s routine plays got to be that way, and he’ll explain what’s going on in some situations where the laws of physics seem to be violated by what’s happening on the field.

Ever wondered why curveballs curve or knuckleballs behave so strangely? You’ll learn how Newton’s laws and the Magnus force explain how pitchers get drastically different results from subtle differences in their releases.

Curious about what exactly the “sweet spot” of the bat is? Ever wondered how big an advantage batters get from the thin air of Mile High Stadium? We’ll explore the physics of the batted ball, examining the phenomena of waves and analyzing the interaction of ball, bat and batter with the help of high-speed video.

During one of the more exciting scenarios in a baseball game—the close play at the plate—fans often see outfielders throw to an infielder rather than directly to home. We’ll look at the pros and cons of this relay play, known as a “cut-off,” in the context of the physics of projectile motion.

Finally, we will also look into high-profile cheating scandals involving corked bats and doctored balls. Dr. Paulson will present models to explain how these alterations to the equipment can benefit the batter and pitcher respectively, and he’ll discuss how much these models are backed up by data.

These few hours in a brewpub will forever enhance your enjoyment of time at the ballpark. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: Photo by Tage Olsin / Wikimedia Commons

Profs and Pints Northern Virginia presents: “The Life of Barbie,” on a plastic icon and her cultural legacy, with Emily Aguiló-Pérez, an associate professor of English at West Chester University of Pennsylvania who has extensively researched Barbie as a scholar of childhood, media, and popular culture.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-barbie .]

Few toys have shaped culture quite like Barbie has. From her debut in 1959 to the billion-dollar success of the 2023 film bearing her name, Barbie has been a mirror of society, a lightning rod for controversy, and a symbol of transformation. She often has found herself at the center of society’s evolving conversations about gender, race, consumerism, and identity.

Get to know Barbie like you never did before with the help of Emily Aguiló-Pérez, the author of An American Icon in Puerto Rico: Barbie, Girlhood, and Colonialism at Play and the forthcoming books Barbie in the Media and Barbie and Social Media.

Drawing from more than a decade of scholarly research on Barbie’s significance in global contexts, Professor Aguiló-Pérez will discuss Barbie’s evolution from fashion model to feminist (and anti-feminist) flashpoint. While Barbie wasn’t originally designed as a feminist toy, she would emerge as an emblem of female empowerment, with the first astronaut Barbie, produced in 1965, exploring space before Neil Armstrong visited the Moon. At the same time, she would continue to face criticism for reinforcing restrictive beauty norms, with her measurements remaining unrealistic even in the "body diverse" versions of the doll—curvy, petite and tall.

We'll explore Barbie’s shifting cultural impact—her role in shaping beauty standards, gender expectations, and consumer culture. You’ll learn about Barbie’s global influence and how she continues to spark conversations about identity, inclusivity, and play.

Whether you loved Barbie, loathed her, or rediscovered her through Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster Barbie movie, you’ll find this talk to be a fascinating journey through the life of the world’s most famous doll, and you’ll learn a lot about what she reveals about us. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: A Barbie doll as photographed by Tracheotomy Bob / Creative Commons.