In 1859, Magnetometers at Kew and Greenwich Observatories recorded the Carrington Event, the largest solar storm ever measured. Telegraph lines sparked and burned, disrupting global communications. People saw the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis across the globe for days. In 1961, the US Armed Forces and MIT launched Project West Ford, striving to put 480 million copper needles into orbit to form an artificial ionosphere for bouncing radio signals back to Earth. By the time the needles successfully deployed in 1963, the first communication satellites had already made them obsolete. Our modern world runs on wires, waves, magnets, and transistors. How ready is humantiy for a disaster from outer space, or one of its own making?
Please Don't Feed the Instruments weaves together an aural tapestry of disasters past, present, and future, both in and out of our control using salvaged electronics, radios, acoustic detritus, and synthesizers.
$30 per person (includes museum admission; $15 for museum members.
Registration required; space is limited.
Live in the Planetarium is made possible with support from the Hearst Foundation.
In conjunction with the S.O. Summit, a 2-day conference where invited guests consider emergency preparedness amid increasing environmental, social, and infrastructural uncertainty. Free for conference attendees but tickets required and available on a first come first served basis.