Events

    2023 Oct 19

    Astronomy is for All of Us: Celebrating Women Astrophysicists and the History of Cosmic Discovery

    5:00pm to 8:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard College Observatory Plate Stacks, 47 Concord Ave., Cambridge

    During Massachusetts STEM Week, join us for an evening celebrating remarkable women in astronomy from across the galaxy. Enjoy a dynamic lecture on exciting applications of astronomy, explore a captivating exhibition in the Great Refractor, engage in family-friendly STEM activities, and cap off the night with fall refreshments and stargazing.

    • Remarks from Professor Lisa Kewley, Director, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
    • Welcome remarks from Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll, highlighting...
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    2023 Sep 17

    ¡Celebremos El Salvador!

    12:00pm to 3:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Celebrate the vibrant culture and natural history of El Salvador. Enjoy captivating folk dances by Grupo Torogoz and try hands-on activities including corn grinding and painting with cochineal insects. Go on a scavenger hunt and discover the rich heritage of animals, minerals, and artifacts from the region. Join an archaeologist for a live-streamed tour of Joya de Cerén, the Pompeii of Latin America. Take a break with Spanish Story Time, enjoy traditional Salvadoran cuisine (available for purchase), and enter a raffle to win a museum gift basket.

    All are welcome to explore,...

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    2023 Aug 13

    Second Sundays at the Arnold Arboretum

    12:00pm to 3:00pm

    Location: 

    Peters Hill, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Bring your family and friends to Peters Hill for an afternoon of free tours, crafts, family activities, and more! Did we mention free ice cream and bubbles? Free activities open to all ages include:

    • Tours of Peters Hill offered in both English and Spanish

    • Plant information tents featuring wildflowers and plant defenses, fascinating Arboretum plant highlights, know-how of Arboretum experts, and a rich assortment of cuttings to view up close

    • Ice cream, art activities, lawn games, StoryWalks®, and more!...

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    2023 May 13

    Science Spotlights

    2:00pm to 3:30pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Meet up-and-coming scientists and learn about questions at the forefront of research today in this series of short talks. Perhaps you’ll discuss how studying dog reactions help us learn about the evolution of social behavior? Maybe you’ll consider the regrowth of a microscopic worm after injury and what that can teach us about any animal cell. Will you look at how trees manage the tradeoffs of building woody tissue or look for geological evidence of Earth’s first billion years? Each Science Spotlight in the series will include several short research talks.

    Ages 10–Adults....

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    2022 Oct 08

    National Fossil Day: More Than Dinosaurs!

    1:00pm to 4:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

    Paleontology is about more than dinosaurs! Harvard paleontologists study amazing non-dinosaur fossils including early mammals, ancient invertebrates, whales, crabs, and more! Meet members of the Stephanie E. Pierce Lab for Vertebrate Paleontology and the Ortega-Hernández Lab for Invertebrate Paleontology to see their favorite fossils, learn about their research, and ask them your questions. See what new techniques and technologies are being used to study fossils, learn what fossils can teach us about evolution, and hear about current research projects. Join us to celebrate National...

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    2022 May 08

    Lilac Sunday

    10:00am to 3:00pm

    Location: 

    Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Join us for the first Lilac Sunday since 2019! We’ll be celebrating 150 years of Arboretum history and 112 Lilac Sundays.

    Experience the springtime bloom of our renowned collection of nearly 400 lilacs. Visit for tours with Arboretum experts, hands-on children’s programming, and more.

    Learn more.

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    2021 Apr 20

    Virtual Exhibit: Women of the Museum, 1860–1920: Behind-the-Scenes at the Museum of Comparative Zoology

    Tue Apr 20 (All day) to Fri Dec 31 (All day)

    Location: 

    Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online

    For the first time in the museum’s history, women who labored in the collections, offices, and labs of the Museum of Comparative Zoology in the late 19th century are being revealed in a unique online exhibit from the Harvard Museums of Science & Culture. The exhibit is curated by Reed Gochberg, Assistant Director of Studies and a Lecturer on History and Literature at Harvard University.

    Women like Elizabeth Hodges Clark, Elizabeth Bangs Bryant, and Elvira Wood persevered diligently behind-the-scenes, gaining unparalleled expertise in what were previously thought to be men’...

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    2020 Oct 22

    National Fossil Day

    9:00am to 2:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History—Online

    Celebrate National Fossil Day—a celebration organized by the National Park Service—by taking a closer look at museum fossils with Harvard paleontologists. What can we see on ancient seafloors? How do modern animals help us understand extinct animals? What fossils still amaze scientists? What is it like to be a practicing paleontologist? Bring your curiosity and questions to this online event for all ages!

    Learn more about and RSVP for National...

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    2020 Oct 15

    Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier

    7:00pm

    Location: 

    Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian—Online

    The first person who will set foot on Mars is alive right now. We believe this, but even if we're wrong we know the first crew to arrive there will look nothing like the ones that landed on the Moon fifty years ago.

    Our world has changed for the better, and ASTRONAUTS tells the story of the women who built this better world. The main character and narrator is Mary Cleave, an astronaut you may not have heard of. It's not because so many people have been to space; only a few hundred have! It’s because this graphic novel isn’t about fame. No astronaut you'll ever meet took the...

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    2020 Oct 14

    Wonderful Cambrian Beasts

    6:00pm to 7:00pm

    Location: 

    Harvard Museum of Natural History—Online

    Earth is home to a vast diversity of organisms that collectively define the modern biosphere. How did this diversity come to be? Javier Ortega-Hernández will discuss his approach to answering this question by studying organisms that lived more than half a billion years ago in the Cambrian Period (485–541 million years ago). By focusing on the earliest-known animals—some of the most versatile to ever exist—Ortega-Hernández aims to reconstruct the early evolutionary history of major animal groups and contribute to our understanding of Earth’s biodiversity.

    ...

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    2020 Sep 17

    Observatory Night: What Stars Are Made Of

    7:00pm

    Location: 

    Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian—Online

    Join the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian for a virtual Public Observatory Night with guest lecturer Donavan Moore, author of "What Stars Are Made Of: The Life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin."

    It was not easy being a woman of ambition in early twentieth-century England, much less one who wished to be a scientist. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin overcame prodigious obstacles to become a woman of many firsts: the first to receive a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe College, the first promoted to full professor at Harvard, the first to head a department there. And, in what...

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    2018 Sep 03

    Weekday Guided Tours

    Repeats every week on Monday, Thursday until Thu Sep 27 2018 .
    10:30am to 12:00pm

    10:30am to 12:00pm
    10:30am to 12:00pm
    10:30am to 12:00pm
    10:30am to 12:00pm
    10:30am to 12:00pm
    10:30am to 12:00pm
    10:30am to 12:00pm

    Location: 

    Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston

    Enjoy a free guided tour of the Arnold Arboretum landscape with a knowledgeable docent. Tours are appropriate for adults and last approximately 90 minutes. History, highlights of the landscape, seasonal interest and more!

     

    ...

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