If you had one chance to introduce Earth to a stranger, which pictures would you choose? A Stockton lecture will explore a real attempt to answer that question, carried into space aboard NASA’s Voyager spacecraft.
Harvard art historian Jennifer Roberts visits University of the Pacific on Thursday, November 12, for the Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Lecture. The program runs from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Long Theatre and focuses on the artistic images on Voyager’s Golden Record.
A portrait of Earth, packed for space
Each of the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977 carries a 12-inch, gold-plated phonograph record containing sounds and images from Earth. According to NASA, a committee chaired by Carl Sagan selected its contents, assembling 115 images alongside natural sounds, music from different cultures and eras, and greetings in 55 languages.
The pictures were encoded in analog form. A protective aluminum jacket, cartridge and needle accompanied each record, with symbolic instructions explaining its origins and how to play it. It was an extraordinary act of communication: a collection of human choices designed for a possible audience that would share neither our language nor our experience.
The Golden Record raises questions familiar to anyone who has made a family album or chosen a photograph to send to someone far away. What does a picture reveal? What does it leave out? How much can an image say when its maker is no longer there to explain it?
Where art and science meet
Roberts’ scholarship examines connections between art and the natural sciences, as well as craft, materiality and print. Harvard identifies her as a collaborator with artist Dario Robleto on a book exploring the brain and heart signals engraved into the Golden Record. Her work considers how meaning can be stored and transmitted across distance and time.
For Stockton readers, the visit offers an opportunity to approach space exploration through the humanities. An interest in pictures, storytelling or the choices people make about representing themselves provides an entry point alongside an interest in astronomy.
Plan your evening
Following the lecture, guests are invited to the Robb Garden for stargazing and hot cocoa. Long Theatre is on Pacific’s Stockton campus at 3601 Pacific Ave.
Pacific identifies the lecture as open to the general public. Its listing does not specify an admission charge or registration requirement; check the official page for updates before attending. For accessibility accommodations, contact Chris Goff at [email protected].
View Pacific’s official event listing. To explore the background, visit NASA’s guide to the Golden Record.
The evening offers a fitting change in perspective: first considering how Earth might look from far away, then looking up from a garden in Stockton.