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All meetings are currently on Zoom
At this time, all PhACT meetings will be online, using the Zoom web conferencing platform. Registration is required to attend the meetings. See the links in the meeting descriptions below.Monthly Lectures
Monthly lectures are usually held on the third Saturday of each month (except in the summer and December), at 2:00 PM.The general public is more than welcome to attend our lectures. You do not need to be a PhACT member to attend.
For more information, contact Bob Glickman at president@phact.org
NOTE: Our Zoom meetings are occasionally live-streamed on YouTube.
Follow this link to the live YouTube stream.
(This is only active during a meeting, and not every meeting.)
Unfortunately, the YouTube stream is view-only. You will not be able to ask questions of the speaker.
(This is only active during a meeting, and not every meeting.)
Unfortunately, the YouTube stream is view-only. You will not be able to ask questions of the speaker.
Upcoming Meetings
Saturday, October 19, 2024 - 19th century astronomy
Visitors to Philadelphia’s Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion might discover a curious object in the children’s room, a large 1871 cardboard planisphere that shows the stars, a rotating disk adjustable to the appearance of the night sky at any date or time. Designed for schools and the curious public, the planisphere speaks to the widespread interest in astronomy during the mid to late 1800s. This presentation surveys what discoveries were made in astronomy during the era and how it was promoted and taught. What did people then think about intelligent life elsewhere? The size and nature of the universe? Robert Hicks explores these topics through the work of a journalist who wrote the most popular guide to astronomy in America; the first professional woman astronomer and the first American scientist to discover a comet; and a lawyer, astronomer, and Civil War general who was the pre-eminent public lecturer on astronomy in the country. The presentation concludes with a virtual 1870s public observing night with a telescope!
Robert D. Hicks, PhD is an independent scholar of the history of science and medicine. Formerly, he served as director of the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library and William Maul Measey Chair for the History of Medicine at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. He has worked with museum-based education and exhibits for four decades, primarily as a consultant to historic sites and museums. Robert has a doctorate in maritime history from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom, and degrees in anthropology and archaeology from the University of Arizona. He also served as a naval officer with the U.S. Naval Security Group and found time to have a career in law enforcement. His most recent book, Civil War Medicine: A Surgeon’s Experience, appeared in 2019 by Indiana University Press. His next book, Wounded for Life: Seven Union Veterans of the Civil War, will appear in late 2024 by the same publisher.
Saturday, November 16, 2024 - FLOATER Toolkit: A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation
Description: Drowning in a sea of misinformation? Learn how to evaluate claims with FLOATER, a framework for evaluating claims using critical thinking and scientific skepticism. Learn 7 key principles to distinguish fact from fiction and empower yourself to make informed decisions about everything from health news to online scams.
Melanie Trecek-King is an Associate Professor of Biology, Massasoit Community College where she teaches a general-education science course designed to equip students with empowering critical thinking, information literacy, and science literacy skills. An active speaker and consultant, Trecek-King loves to share her “teach skills, not facts” approach with other science educators and to help organizations meet their goals through better thinking. Trecek-King is also the Education Director for the Mental Immunity Project and CIRCE (Cognitive Immunology Research Collaborative), which aim to advance and apply the science of mental immunity to inoculate minds against misinformation. has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Chemistry and a Master of Arts in Ecology from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she studied prairie ecology, succession, the role of fire in ecosystems, and conservation biology. She is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, whose founders included Carl Sagan, Issac Asimov, B.F. Skinner, Philip J Klass, Ray Hyman, and James Randi. Other notable CSI fellows are Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ann Druyan and Steven Pinker.