Skip to main content

Now Virtual

Silicon Valley Lecture Series

The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures

We're excited to announce this popular lecture series, co-sponsored by the ASP, is back in person since February, 2023! All of the lectures are recorded for audio and streaming.

Visit our Calendar of Events for upcoming monthly lectures.

Sign up for our Events @the ASP newsletter for notifications.

Watch all Recorded Lectures on the SVAL YouTube Channel


About the Lecture Series

Founded in 1999, the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are presented on six Wednesday evenings during each school year at Foothill College, in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley. Speakers over the years have included Nobel Prize winners, members of the National Academy of Sciences, the first woman in history to discover a planet, an astrophysicist who is an award-winning science fiction writer, and many other well-known scientists explaining astronomical developments in everyday language.

The series is moderated by Foothill’s emeritus astronomy instructor Andrew Fraknoi and sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the SETI Institute, University of California Observatories (including the Lick Observatory), and the Foothill College Astronomy Program.

Watch all Recorded Lectures on the SVAL YouTube Channel

Listen to Select Podcasts from previous lectures now available.


Updated note, January 11, 2023: Due to COVID-19, the in-person Lecture Series took a pause and offered live YouTube streaming and recorded lectures between October 2020 and 2022. Beginning February 8, 2023, the SVAL resumed in-person lectures. The recordings will continue to be offered on the YouTube channel.

Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the lectures are being video- and audio-taped by David Manzo of Bejaw Productions.

Visit the Silicon Valley Lecture Series YouTube channel for video versions of past lectures.

Close