Chanda Prescod-Weinstein connects history to the stars

The TED Interview

The way Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical physicist, sees it, Harriet Tubman is the Great American Astronomer. Using the North Star, with no formal training, Harriet Tubman led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom. Chanda is a night sky expert, too. She’s studying the intersections of astrophysics, particle physics, and cosmology, and she’s a leading thinker in understanding dark matter—the invisible particles some postulate could account for most of the matter in the universe. In this episode, Chanda shares how she uses science and the stars not just to uncover how amazing our universe is, but to understand and celebrate humanity’s shared histories—and struggles. Chanda’s latest book, “The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred” is out now.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada