STARMUS IV NEW SPEAKER’S ANNOUNCMENT

THE LINEUP INCLUDES STEPHEN HAWKING WITH 10 NOBEL PRIZE WINNERS, BUZZ ALDRIN AND OLIVER STONE

Starmus IV, hosted by NTNU, runs from 18-23 June in Trondheim, Norway. Tickets available from www.starmus.com

“Starmus is an important and very unique interdisciplinary festival of people working in different fields — astronomers, astronauts, cosmologists, physicists, philosophers, musicians, artists, biologists etc., who share an interest in the universe, how it began and is now, and how we may explore and use its many facets.”

Professor Stephen Hawking

New Starmus participants consist of a combination of Nobel Laureates, astronauts, a filmmaker, sociologists and scientists of all stripes:

Buzz Aldrin, Oliver Stone, Larry King, Brian Cox, Jaan Tallinn, Sir Chris Pissarides, Paul D.N. Hebert,  Eugene Kaspersky, Alexandra Witze, Jeffrey Sachs, Christer Fuglesang, Nancy Knowlton, Nick Lane, Sir Anthony Giddens, Sue Bailey, Torsten Wiesel, John Delaney, Sergey Volkov, Alexander Volkov

The legendary Buzz Aldrin will join fellow moonwalkers Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt; the trio will come together for the first time in front of an audience for a thrilling hour-long debate entitled “To The Moon And Beyond.” The moonwalkers will explore their incredible landings decades later and will share their different views on future missions to Mars.

“It has been my privilege to have attended two previous Starmus Conferences. I have never attended a conference with a more distinguished group of speakers, from Nobel Laureates to space voyagers to top scientists. The lectures were all informative, thought provoking and entertaining. I look forward to participating in Starmus IV, especially the panel discussion with my fellow moonwalkers.”

Charlie Duke

Oscar winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and award-winning television host Larry King will participate in a lively debate on today’s global problems.

Starmus IV will celebrate outstanding contributions from women to the world of science and astronomy. Biologist Nancy Knowlton, psychiatrist Dame Sue Bailey and science journalist Alexandra Witze will join the incredibly high-profile list of women speakers already on the programme, in sharing groundbreaking discoveries made in their field. A core aim of Starmus is to encourage and inspire more women to take an interest in science by presenting role models who are changing the world.

Technology will also be a more significant part of the programme this year with innovative ideas shared by leaders who have changed the way we communicate, such as Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, who will explore artificial intelligence.

New for 2017, Kaspersky Lab will install a major cybersecurity education hub, from which daily education sessions will be delivered by experts in the fields of both cybersecurity and science. During the festival, Eugene Kaspersky will be joined by other experts for a panel discussion about ‘Industry 4.0’, which will examine the relationship between science, modern industry and cybersecurity.

Starmus IV will also introduce sociology and economics to the programme for the first time with 2004 Nobel Prize-winning economist Finn Kydland, sociology professor Lord Anthony Giddens, economics professor Jeffrey Sachs and Regius Professor of Economics at the London School of Economics Chris Pissarides, who will discuss the impact that global issues, such as climate change, Brexit, and US President Donald Trump, might have on politics and economics.

The Starmus board includes Stephen Hawking, Brian May, Peter Gabriel, Richard Dawkins, Alexei Leonov, and the festival’s founder, Garik Israelian – these great minds have recruited the most intelligent, creative and artistic beings on the planet and devised an incredible programme.

Stephen Hawking, Alexei Leonov, Charlie Duke, Harrison Schmitt, George Smoot, Adam Riess, Robert Williams, Robert Wilson, May-Britt Moser, Edvard Moser, Charlie Duke, Alan Stern, Jill Tarter, Michel Mayor, Brian Eno, Walt Cunningham, Emmanuelle Charpentier, Susumu Tonegawa

The Starmus Festival was born in 2011, the brainchild of astrophysicist Garik Israelian. His aim was to make the most universal science and art accessible to the public, which he achieved with three sold-out festivals that featured the world’s most influential scientists and astronomers in tandem with superstar musicians. The magic of Starmus is not confined to science —music is an essential component of the festival. One of the most prominent members of the Advisory Board, the great Peter Gabriel, former leader of UK band Genesis, highlights the close ties between astronomy and music: "Musicians explore and define what exists inside us, astronomers explore and define what exists outside of us. That's precisely what I love about Starmus: the combination of the two worlds".

With an unbeatable panel of great minds, the countdown begins to the next Starmus in June 2017, amid considerable international expectation. Over the coming months, the organisation will unveil new features and surprises in connection with the world's most ambitious science event, which will in turn raise Trondheim’s visibility as a city of culture, science and technology.

The music side to the festival shall be announced shortly.

Trondheim is a renowned location for students and academics. It has been ranked as Norway’s most impressive student city and has long standing traditions in education with a Cathedral School that has been in existence since 1152. The roots of today’s university go all the way back to 1760, with the establishment of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (DKNVS). The city has a population of more than 188,000, with 39,000 students attending and nearly 7000 employees working at the university, NTNU – the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The university and its spin-offs are one of the main reasons Trondheim is referred to as the science and technology capital of Norway.

Trondheim also has a vibrant cultural life. The city hosts festivals in genres including jazz, blues, chamber music, world music, rock and pop all year round with a peak during the summer when the sun almost never sets. During the Starmus festival in Trondheim in June 2017, the sun will go down at midnight and rise at 3am.

Situated just below the Arctic Circle at 63 degrees North, this thousand-year old coastal city has strong academic traditions and a culture-loving population that makes it the perfect location for a festival such as Starmus, which combines the best of all these worlds.