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Cosmology on tap

By Globe Staff, 2/9/2003

T'S JUST PAST HAPPY hour in Harvard Square's Red Line Bar, and some unusual cocktail chatter is flying. "What exactly is this 'dark energy' that's driving the universe apart, anyway?" demands an attractive young woman in a vintage dress and cat-eye glasses.

This past Wednesday, 50 enquiring minds packed the bar's back room to hear Harvard's Robert Kirshner, author of "The Extravagant Universe" and one of the world's leading astronomers, give a talk on cosmology-the history and geometry of the entire physical universe. After years of studying supernovae, he and his colleagues have decided that the expansion of the universe isn't slowing down, as was formerly assumed, but is accelerating exponentially under the influence of "dark energy"-which is where Ideas, a pint of beer in hand, came in.

Welcome to Cafe Scientifique, a convivial gathering that has become popular in London, Paris, Warsaw, and Sydney-and has now arrived in Cambridge, thanks to Justin Mullins, the Boston editor of the international weekly New Scientist. "Instead of one person lecturing others, Cafe Scientifique is designed to promote group discussions," Mullins promised in his invitation. But on Wednesday, as Kirshner described dark energy as "a quality of the void itself" and spoke as rapturously as any espresso-fueled Left Bank cafe philosopher, those assembled were content to listen.

"I expected more discussion," a tall young man named Jol told Ideas. "But the atmosphere reminded me of 'university evenings' in Austria and Vienna, and you don't find that sort of thing in the United States. I will definitely come back."

"This is much more than a seminar in a bar," Mullins said. "Tonight, I met a couple of astronomers, a psychologist, a behavioral biologist, and a retired gent who used to run the cyclotron at Harvard. The only danger is that this might become too popular." The following day, he e-mailed Ideas: "I've already heard of two 'dates' that were set up last night, so Cafe Scientifique seems to be working on more than one level already!"

The next meeting of Cafe Scientifique is on Monday, Feb. 24. The New Scientist's experts on outer space will be joined at the Red Line, they hope, by an astronaut or two, to discuss the Columbia shuttle disaster. More information is available at www.newscientist.com/hottopics/cafescientifique.

For comments and suggestions, email ideas@globe.com

This story ran on page D3 of the Boston Globe on 2/9/2003.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.