RSSA October 2026 Meeting and Scientific Presentation

The Royal Society of South Australia is pleased to invite you to its October meeting and scientific presentation:

“Are we alone: the search for extraterrestrial life”

Speaker: Dr Rod Hill

Bio:

Rod is a retired Chief Research Scientist and Group Executive at the CSIRO and a former Pro Vice Chancellor at Monash University.  He has PhD and DSc degrees from the University of Adelaide in the fields of crystallography, crystal chemistry and mineralogy.  He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy and Technological Science and Engineering, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, and the Mineralogical Society of America.  The mineral “Hillite” was named after him in 2003. 

He has had a lifelong passion for astronomy and has constructed two 6” Newtonian telescopes.  He has written several articles in popular astronomy journals and has published two books on total solar eclipses and one entitled “Space to Live: the search for an alternative home for humanity”. 

Summary:

The famous science fiction writer, Arthur C Clarke (1917-2008) remarked that “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying”.

The question has fascinated humanity since the 16th century when the Ptolemy model of the universe with the Earth at the centre, was overturned by the Sun-centred model of Copernicus.

Starting with the definition of “Life”, the talk examines its evolution on Earth over the past 4 billion years, outlines the hurdles it has faced and the threats to its existence that it continues to face, summarises the ongoing efforts to find evidence of it within and outside the Solar System, and concludes with an analysis of the chances that we are not alone.

Event Information:

The event will begin at 6:00 pm with nibbles, refreshments and opportunities for pre-meeting discussions and networking. A small donation to the RSSA is greatly appreciated to partake in this and support the continued provision of these pre-meeting treats.

This event will be held in-person in the Royal Society rooms, but we will simultaneously live-stream the meeting via Zoom for those not able to attend on the night.

To attend either in person, or online, you must register here. The zoom link will be sent to you on registration. Please feel free to share this event with your institution or networks.

If in-person tickets are sold out, please be aware that we are unable to admit more people than our room capacity. If online tickets are sold out, please contact admin@rssa.org.au and we can supply the zoom link to you.

For more information on the location of the RSSA rooms, please visit https://www.rssa.org.au/contact/