Marcello Pera

INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF ASTRONOMY 2009

1609-2009 From Galilei's Telescope to Evolutionary Cosmology
Science, Philosophy and Theology in Dialogue



GENERAL PROGRAM


Sunday November 29th Afternoon
(reserved to Invited Guests)
18:00 Galilei's Historical Exhibit Inauguration
20:00 Reception at the Hall of the Pontifical Lateran University (PUL)


Monday November 30th Morning
Plenary Session - Aula Magna
9:30 Welcome Introduction
RINO FISICHELLA (Rector PUL) NICOLA CABIBBO (President PAS)


Chairperson: GIANFRANCO BASTI
10:15 OWEN J. GINGERICH, University of Harvard, USA (History of Astronomy and Astrophysics)
11:00 GEORGE F. SMOOT, University of California at Berkeley, USA, Nobel Laureate (Observational Cosmology)
11:45 GIANFRANCO RAVASI, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture (Biblical Cosmology)
12:30 STEPHEN HAWKING, Cambridge University, UK (Invited)
General Discussion
13:30 End of Session


Monday November 30th Afternoon
Physics Session: Cosmology, Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and GUT's
Aula Pio XI
Chairperson: MARCELLO PERA
14:30 CARLO RUBBIA, CERN, Switzerland, Nobel Laureate, Member of PAS (Cosmology, GUT's and Quantum Mechanics: LHC Physics)
15:15 ROGER PENROSE, Oxford University, UK (Cosmology, GUT's, and Relativity Theory)
16:00 NICOLA CABIBBO, University of Rome "La Sapienza", President of PAS (The state of art of GUT's in Physical Cosmology)


Chairperson: NICOLA CABIBBO
17:15 LEE SMOLIN, University of Ontario at Waterloo, Canada (Current Thinking on the Reality of Time and the Nature of Law at the Cosmological Scale)
18:00 MARCO BERSANELLI, University of Milan, Italy (Presentation on the ESA Planck Space Mission devoted to the study of the early universe)
18:45 General Discussion with all the Speakers
19:15 End of the Session


Tuesday December 1st Morning
An Audience with the Holy Father has been requested


Tuesday December 1st Afternoon
Philosophy Session: From Physical to Metaphysical Cosmology
Aula Pio XI
Chairperson: MARCELO SANCHEZ SORONDO
14:30 MARCELLO PERA, University of Pisa, Italy and Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican City, Senator of the Italian Republic (Epistemological and Cultural Relevance of the Current Debate)
15:15 ENRICO BERTI, University of Padua, Member of PAS (From Physical to Metaphysical Cosmology)
16:00 WILLIAM CARROLL, University of Oxford, UK (Time and Creation: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Cosmology)


Chairperson: ENRICO BERTI
17:15 GIANFRANCO BASTI, Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican City (Divine Causality vs. Physical Causality. The Formal Ontology Approach)
18:00 MARCELO SANCHEZ SORONDO, Chancellor of PAS (The Common Being of Nature and the Human Subsistent Being)
18:45 General Discussion
19:00 End of the Session


Wednesday December 2nd Morning
Theology Session: From Physics and Metaphysics to Theological Cosmology
Aula Pio XI
Chairperson: WILLIAM CARROLL
09:00 GIUSEPPE TANZELLA NITTI, University of the Holy Cross, Rome (Physical Cosmology and Christian Theology of Creation)
09:45 CHARLES MOREROD, St. Thomas Aquinas University, Rome (From Physical Cosmology to Theological Cosmology: The Analogy Path)


Chairperson: CHARLES MOREROD
11:00 GEORGES COTTIER, Former Theologian of the Pontifical Household (Causa Prima et Causae Secundae)
11:45 RINO FISICHELLA, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life and Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University (Science, Philosophy and Theology in Dialogue on Cosmology: Is a Synthesis Possible?)
12:30 Final Discussion
13:00 End of the Conference


Conference Organizing Committee
GIANFRANCO RAVASI, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
MARCELO SANCHEZ SORONDO, Chancellor of PAS
CARLO RUBBIA, CERN, Switzerland, Nobel Laureate, Member of PAS
NICOLA CABIBBO, University of Rome "La Sapienza", President of PAS
MARCELLO PERA, University of Pisa, Italy and Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican City
GIANFRANCO BASTI, Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican City
ANTONIO LUIGI PERRONE, Secretary of IRAFS, Pontifical Lateran University, Vatican City