Saturday: March for Science in Cities Around the World

The Washington Monument, on the Washington DC
National Mall, will be the beginning of the Washington
March for Science.
(Image Sources: Wikipedia.org , By Alvesgaspar - Own work, 
CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=56582162)

By Glenn A. Walsh

Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

On the annual Earth Day this Saturday a new event, the March for Science, is a series of marches and rallies which will occur in Washington DC and more than 500 other cities world-wide including Pittsburgh. According to the March for Science Internet web-site, “The March for Science is the first step of a global movement to defend the vital role science plays in our health, safety, economies, and governments.”

The organizers and supporters of the March for Science insist that it is a non-partisan event. The goal of the March for Science is to call for science which upholds the common good and provides for evidence-based information to be used for developing good public policy.

The March for Science was inspired by the Women's March held on January 21, the day after the inauguration of U.S. President Donald J. Trump. The organizers of the March for Science have been skeptical of the lower priority that the Trump Administration, thus far, has given to scientific issues related to public policies.

It is hoped that the March for Science will give greater exposure to all of the elements of science which provide us with the good quality of life we have today and impress upon policy-makers that advancement in the sciences is a necessity to maintain such a good quality of life. It is also hoped that the March for Science will inspire the public to engage policy-makers regarding the decisions being made, or neglected, regarding science public policy.

The March for Science in Washington, along with all satellite marches (including the one in Pittsburgh) is free-of-charge to the public and open to everyone! No prior registration is required. All events will go-on, rain or shine!

For people who do not live in or near Washington and would like to participate in a satellite march, the March for Science Internet web-site (link to this web-site at the end of this blog-post) provides a listing of all satellite marches that are currently planned.

In Washington, the March for Science will be an all-day event concentrating on the National Mall in Downtown Washington. The event begins at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Saving Time (EDT) on the National Mall just north of the grounds of the Washington Monument, on Constitution Avenue NW between 15^th and 17^th Streets NW.

The Washington event will include 21 science teach-in sessions, beginning at 9:00 a.m. EDT and running until around Noon, or a little after. The 18 organizations sponsoring these teach-in sessions include the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Anthropological Association, American Chemical Society, and the University of Rochester. Several other special events, as part of the March for Science, are also scheduled throughout the weekend at different venues in Washington.

The actual Washington March begins at 2:00 p.m. EDT. The March will form on the National Mall at the grounds of the Washington Monument. The March will proceed east on Constitution Avenue NW from 15^th Street to 3^rd Street NW, then south on 3^rd Street NW terminating in Union Square.

In Pittsburgh, the March for Science will center on the University of Pittsburgh campus in the Oakland Civic Center section of the city. Scheduled for 12:00 Noon to 2:00 p.m. EDT, it will begin on Bigelow Boulevard between Fifth and Forbes Avenues [between the Cathedral of Learning and the William Pitt Student Union (originally, the historic Hotel Schenley)]. The main event will be a march completely around the large city block encompassing the University of Pittsburgh's signature, 42-story Cathedral of Learning (tallest academic building in the Western Hemisphere, second tallest in the World!).

Around 1:00 p.m. EDT, the Pittsburgh March will be followed by several speakers from the Pittsburgh scientific community in the closed block of Bigelow Boulevard (between Fifth and Forbes Avenues).

Friends of the Zeiss, parent organization of the SpaceWatchtower Blog and Twitter News Feed, will participate in the March for Science in Pittsburgh.

Friends of the Zeiss is a non-profit organization with the mission to promote Astronomy, Space Science, and other sciences to the general public through Internet web sites, SpaceWatchtower Blog, and SpaceWatchtower Twitter News Feed, as well as public observing sessions of special astronomical events and other public educational programs and services regarding Astronomy, Space Science, and other sciences. This organization also promotes the history and preservation of the historic equipment, artifacts, and building of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science, including the Zeiss II Planetarium Projector (prior to 2002 dismantling, oldest operable major planetarium projector in the world!) and the fairly unique 10-inch Siderostat-type Refractor Telescope.

Internet Links to Additional Information ---

March for Science -
     Internet Web-Site: Link >>> https://www.marchforscience.com/
     Wikipedia Page: Link >>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_for_Science
     March for Science Pittsburgh: Link  >>> https://www.facebook.com/MarchForSciencePGH/

2017 August 21 -
Public observing session for the Great American Solar Eclipse, co-sponsored by

Friends of the Zeiss and the Mount Lebanon Public Library. The Mount Lebanon Public

Library estimated public attendance at 300. Members of Friends of the Zeiss

participating in this event were Glenn A. Walsh, Lynne S. Walsh, James McKee, and

Josie Dougherty(eighth-grade student who had just attended NASA's Space Camp in

Huntsville, Alabama). 

Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/history.html#GASE 

Related Blog Posts ---

"NASA & the Trump Administration." 2017 Jan. 23.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2017/01/nasa-trump-administration.html

 

"U.S. Presidential Candidates Answer Science Questions." 2016 Sept. 18.

Link >>> http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/2016/09/us-presidential-candidates-answer.html

     Safe Public Viewing of the Great American Solar Eclipse
                         Monday, August 21, 2017
     Mt. Lebanon Public Library, South Suburban Pittsburgh
More Info: Link >>> http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/archivenews/releases/poster-flyer/2017SolarEclipse-Flyer.htm

Source: Glenn A. Walsh Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.
             2017 April 21.

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gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director, Friends of the Zeiss: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
& SpaceWatchtower Editor / Author: < http://buhlplanetarium2.tripod.com/weblog/spacewatchtower/gaw/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
Astronomy Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#astrolinks >
Science Links: < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#sciencelinks >
SpaceWatchtower Twitter News Feed: < https://twitter.com/spacewatchtower >
SpaceWatchtower Blog: < http://spacewatchtower.blogspot.com/ >
LibraryWatchtower Blog: < http://librarywatchtower.blogspot.com >
TransportWatchtower Blog: < http://transportwatchtower.blogspot.com  >
South Hills Backyard Astronomers Blog: < http://shbastronomers.blogspot.com/ >
Barnestormin Blog: Writing, Essays, Pgh. News, etc.: < http://www.barnestormin.blogspot.com/ >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >