Channel: caltech

Category: Education

Description: This link is of a recorded-live lecture and includes a slideshow with music at the beginning. Click the time mark 15:53 to jump to the start of the lecture. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted not only our daily patterns of life but also our habitual ways of thinking about safety, uncertainty, and risk at the personal and collective scales. While the science we bring to this pandemic is new, the arguments we bring to questions of public health and uncertainty have ancient roots. This talk explores the long history of thinking about chance, from the Goddess Fortune of ancient epic to the modern rhetoric of personal risk. About the Speaker: Jennifer A. Jahner, Professor of English, Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, Caltech About the Series: Since 1922, The Earnest C. Watson Lecture Series has brought Caltech's most innovative scientific research to the public. The series is named for Earnest C. Watson, a professor of physics at Caltech from 1919 until 1959. Spotlighting a small selection of the pioneering research Caltech's faculty is currently conducting, the Watson Lectures are geared toward a general audience, as part of the Institute's ongoing commitment to benefiting the local community through education and outreach. Through a gift from the estate of Richard C. Biedebach, the lecture series is able to highlight assistant professors' research each season. You can watch Caltech’s 2021-2022 Watson Lectures live on caltech.edu/watson or on Caltech's YouTube channel. For more information about Dr. Jahner’s research: hss.caltech.edu/people/jennifer-jahner For more information on the Watson Lecture Series: caltech.edu/watson Produced in association with Caltech Academic Media Technologies. ©2022 California Institute of Technology