Meet the author of "STARBORN: How the stars made us - and who we would be without them"

by Roberto Trotta (International School for Advanced Study in Trieste)

Wednesday 13 May 2026, 16:00 → 17:00 Europe/Zurich

52/1-052 (CERN)

The event is aimed at the CERN community and CERN Alumni and Retirees, therefore physical attendance will require having a valid CERN access card. 

CERN Alumni should use this form to request CERN access cards.

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The author of the new book "STARBORN: How the stars made us - and who we would be without them" will give a talk at the CERN Library:

We are made of stardust: the atoms in our bodies were produced by stellar explosions that occurred billions of years ago. But the stars haven't just given us life: observing the sky has guided Homo Sapiens since prehistoric times. Who would we be, had our ancestors been fated to live on a planet without stars?

This talk will uncover the unexpected connections between the sight of the heavens and human history: from the role of stars in establishing our supremacy over the Neanderthals to navigation; from measuring time to the achievements of the Scientific Revolution; from astrology to artificial intelligence, we will discover that stars made us who we are in more ways than we ever suspected. 

The event will be followed by a Q&A and signing sessions. The book is available from the CERN Library & Bookshop.

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About the author: 

Roberto Trotta is professor of theoretical physics at the International School for Advanced Study in Trieste, Italy, where he is the Director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory, and a visiting professor at Imperial College London. His research focuses on machine learning and data science in cosmology. An award-winning science communicator and author, he is the recipient of the 2020 Annie Maunder medal of the Royal Astronomical Society for his contributions to public engagement. His latest book, STARBORN, has been named BBC Book of the Week.  www.robertotrotta.com