Mark Boslough, Ph.D., Sandia National Laboratories
Friday, January 9, 2015, 7:00 - 8:30 PM. Doors open at 6:15 PM.
Free admission, no registration required
New Mexico Academy of Science
Host & Lecture Location
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
1801 Mountain Rd. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104 • (505) 841-2800
Shortly after dawn on February 15, 2013, an asteroid descended at about 19 kilometers per second (42,500 mph) exploding at high altitude in a momentary flash brighter than the sun and generating a shock wave that injured over a thousand people. This type of event is not as unusual on Earth as one might think. Hear the story and related research from New Mexico expert Dr. Mark Boslough on planetary impacts and global catastrophes. Dr. Boslough’s research on airbursts challenged the conventional view of asteroid collision risk and is now widely accepted by the scientific community. In 2011 he stated, “It is virtually certain (probability more than 99%) that the next destructive NEO (Near Earth Object) event will be an airburst."
Dr. Boslough’s work has been profiled on PBS NOVA, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic and the BBC. The asteroid 73520 Boslough (2003 MB1) is named after him. He is currently a Principal Member of the technical staff at Sandia Laboratories.He earned his B.S. in Physics (Colorado State University) and M.S. and Ph.D.in Applied Physics (Caltech) where his research focused on geophysics.