The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
April, 2024 Update: Please note that starting in April, the Silicon Valley Lectures will only be viewable on YouTube Livestream until further notice due to the remodeling of the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College.
This popular lecture series, co-sponsored by the ASP, resumed in-person lectures starting in February, 2023. All of the lectures are recorded for audio and streaming.
Visit our Calendar of Events for upcoming monthly lectures.
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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.
