Today's activities fill me with emotions. This is my report:
We started with a visit to Sergio Ocampo's Program at XEUAG at 8:20 in the morning. Sergio was gracious enough to let me talk almost up to nine o'clock when Alex got here from Acapulco.
I explained what I have been telling the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA-2009) participants here in Guerrero, that the HZT and SCP discovery was revolutionary; just as Galileo's discovery that Jupiter had moons was revolutionary, four hundred years before.
The revolution now, is that there are dark matter and energy, different from what we knew before the news that Filippenko came to announce; namely the 1998 discovery of "Universe Acceleration".
Not only we are not the center of the Universe, we are not even made of the stuff that most of the Universe is made of.
At 8:45 AM, Alex got here from Acapulco; psychologist Memije a little later, and Lilith Cortes started her program "True Science" at 9 o'clock sharp.
Lilith lost her father, the poet and musician Joel Cortes Varona last week. I was strongly moved when Alex finished answering Lilith's questions, and she told us that the interview had made her think of the marvels of the Universe which she cares for so much: That maybe in some way her father was somewhere in this huge space we inhabit.
You can read a Joel homage report in Spanish here. The poet Edgar Altamirano already made it available for us in YouTube at the link in the previous paragraph.
From the center of town we went to the National Teacher's Union auditorium, where we got early enough to connect Alex's computer to a projector, and two LCDs.
The young students kept on coming from their schools together with their teachers, until they filled the auditorium, with some having to sit on the floor. There could've been seven hundred in attendance. Before starting the lecture a video was shown with the Mexican astronomers Manuel Peimbert, Jose Franco, and others.
Other Mathematics Department professors also came, like Armando Carballo, Gerardo Salgado, Efrén Marmolejo, Flaviano Godínez, and Javier G. Mendieta. Also some students came, like Florida, Yadira, and Bricio. Finally a group of friends like El Chilo, Antonio Martín, Jesús Martínez Castro, Roel Ayala Mata, the astronomer Jorge Villa, with his family, and a few others that I don't remember or didn't see. My nephew, the architect Ignacio Cardenas Uriza came all the way from Huitzuco. I really felt at home with so many dear friends.
What moved me the most was the enthusiastic treatment the young students gave our speaker at the end that surprised us all.
I can mention two of the organizers, psychologist Angela Memije, and Dr. Rodolfo Cobos.
At the end Alex and me left the event surrounded by young people asking for more autographs, and eager to have more pictures taken with us, like if we were some popular stars whom they admire. I don't know, maybe Amandititita, Diego Luna or Gael García Bernal. They jumped on top of the front of the car; until they went down we went to the La Casita restaurant where we ate pozole.
How touching!
Now the young students know that the Universe is in Accelerated Expansion, they saw Alex throw his apple up in the air, as you can see in other talks on YouTube if you search for his name.
Alex offered to come back to Guerrero. All the organizers feel satisfied.
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