Joseph Henry Lecture Archives

May 29, 2026 Meeting #2,536 The 95th Joseph Henry Lecture
In Memory of PSW Science Member Dick Garwin

Agentic AI and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life

The SETI-NVIDIA Collaboration at the Allen Telescope Array

Michael Garrett (U. of Manchester) & Adam Thompson (NVIDIA)

Michael Garrett
Sir Bernard Lovell Chair of Astrophysics
University of Manchester
Chair, SETI Permanent Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics

Adam Thompson
Head of Product - Edge Supercomputing
NVIDIA

June 27, 2025 Meeting #2,518 The 94th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by PSW Science Members Larry Millstein & Robin Taylor

OSIRIS-Rex Brings Samples of Bennu to Earth

An Adventure of Planning, Luck and Unlikely Events

Jason P. Dworkin

Senior Scientist for Astrobiology
Project Scientist, OSIRIS-REx
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

May 17, 2024 Meeting #2,496 The 93rd Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by MWZB Law

Unlost – Recovering the Text of Burnt and Carbonized Scrolls

Reading Herculaneum Papyri using X-ray CT and AI

Brent Seales

Professor of Computer Science
University of Kentucky

May 19, 2023 Meeting #2,477 The 92nd Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by University of California San Diego

Architecture for the New Space Age

Learning to Work and Live Beyond Earth

Paul Kessler, Eleanor Morgan, Daniel Inocente, and Corky Clinton

Paul D. Kessler
Aerospace Technical Manager
NASA

Eleanor E. Morgan
Space Architect & Program Manager
Lockheed Martin

Daniel Inocente
Senior Space Architect
Blue Origin

Raymond "Corky" Clinton
Senior Technical Advisor, Science & Technology Office
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center

May 20, 2022 Meeting #2,459 The 91st Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by MWZB Law

Ingenuity: The First Flying Machine on Mars

First Controlled Powered Flight on Another Planet

J. (Bob) Balaram

Chief Engineer of Ingenuity
JPL/CalTech

June 4, 2021 Meeting #2,442 The 90th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by MWZB Law & PSW Science Member Carl Merril

Quantum Gravity

Carlo Rovelli

Director, The Quantum Gravity Group
Centre de Physique Théorique de Luminy, Aix-Marseille University

May 15, 2020 Meeting #2,421 The 89th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by MWZB

The Event Horizon Telescope

First Ever Images of a Black Hole

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Sheperd S. Doeleman

Founding Director, Event Horizon Telescope
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

With Colleagues:
Michael Johnson, Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Andrew Strominger, Professor of Physics, Harvard University

May 17, 2019 Meeting #2,410 The 88th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by MWZB

The Big Bang and Inflation

Glimpsing The Beginning of Time From the Ends of the Earth

Brian Keating

Professor of Physics
Center for Astrophysics & Space Sciences
University of California at San Diego

June 15, 2018 Meeting #2,394 The 87th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, PC

Cassini’s Spectacular Saturn

How it Revolutionized Our View of Planets, Moons, and the Possibilities for Life in the Universe

Speakers from NASA, Cornell, & JPL

May 12, 2017 Meeting #2,379 The 86th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, PC

Exoplanets and the Search for Life

An Exploration in Four Lectures

Speakers from NASA & Yale University

April 15, 2016 Meeting #2,362 The 85th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, PC

The Exploration of Pluto

Alan Stern

Principal Scientist, New Horizons
Vice President for Research, Southwest Research Institute
CEO, Uwingu and The Golden Spike Company

May 8, 2015 Meeting #2,348 The 84th Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, PC

Synthetic Biology

The Technology Engine of the 21st Century

Pamela Silver

Professor, Systems Biology
Harvard Medical School

May 9, 2014 Meeting #2,334 The 83rd Joseph Henry Lecture
Sponsored by the Millen, White, Zelano & Branigan, PC

A Worm’s Tale

Secrets of Evolution and Immortality

Craig C. Mello

Nobel Prize, Medicine or Physiology, 2006
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Blais University Chair in Molecular Medicine & Co-Director,
RNA Therapeutics Institute, University of Massachusetts Medical School