A hundred trillion neutrinos from the sun fly through you every second. At any moment, there are three hundred of these subatomic particles in the tip of your pinky alone that are ancient relics from the Big Bang. Neutrinos are key to explaining why the sun shines, and may even be the reason why you and everything else in the universe exists at all. And yet, scientists know surprisingly little about these ghostly particles that surround us and flow through us every moment of our lives. Experiments are on the verge of resolving many neutrino puzzles, but for now they are the most mysterious known particles in the universe. James Riordon, author of Ghost Particle: In Search of the Elusive and Mysterious Neutrino, describes the neutrino’s discovery and the current status of research into this topic.

James Riordon is an author and science journalist who has written for Science News, Scientific American, Quanta Magazine, New Scientist, Popular Science, The Washington Post, Physics Today, and Analytical Chemistry. In his book Ghost Particle: In Search of the Elusive and Mysterious Neutrino, Riordon, along with co-author physicist Alan Chodos, take readers through the experiences of intrepid scientists and the challenges they faced, and continue to face, in their search for the ghostly neutrino. Riordon is a past President of the DC Science Writers Association and cofounder of the Southwest Science Writers Association. Riordon lives in Clarksville, Maryland with his science writer spouse Martha Heil, two daughters, and way too many family dogs, cats, and snakes.

We invite you to support the author by purchasing a copy of their book from Browseabout Books by clicking HERE. Call-in orders are accepted at (302) 226-2665 or you can stop by the store to purchase a copy. For store hours, please visit their website. Each copy purchased comes with a signed archival bookplate.

The library's “Science and Society - Making Sense of the World Around Us” lecture series is co-organized and moderated by Fred Dylla, Executive Director Emeritus of the American Institute of Physics and author of Scientific Journeys, Linda Dylla, former public information officer at the Jefferson Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy, and Colin Norman, the former News Editor at Science.

NOTE: this meeting is being conducted through Zoom. You MUST REGISTER to receive instructions for joining the meeting.

If you have need assistance with registration or getting your Zoom invitation, please email us.

Basic written instructions for using Zoom may be found here and a brief video tutorial may be found here. Closed captioning is available for all our sessions. Information on enabling closed captioning in Zoom may be found here.