NRF|SAAO Cape Town Open Night
March 28 @ 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Join us for Open Nights at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Cape Town, held on the second and fourth Saturday of every month.
Each evening begins with an engaging presentation on astronomy or a related field of science, followed by a guided tour of the Observatory’s rich history—including our library, museum, and the historic 120-year-old McClean Telescope.
Weather permitting, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy stargazing through the McClean and additional smaller telescopes.
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- Gates open at 7:30 PM.
- Free entry for children aged 6 and under.
Please email cptbookings@saao.ac.za or call +27 21 447 0025 if you have any queries regarding bookings.
Speaker: Thato Thapo
Bio: Thato Thapo is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Cape Town with the High Energy Physics, Cosmology and Astrophysics Theory group, South Africa. He completed his MSc in 2025 where he focussed on an idea extending General Relativity known as Carroll Gravity. His main research focuses on Theoretical Cosmology, including Fast Radio Bursts and theories of Modified Gravity. He is also a qualified Mathematics and Physics teacher and since 2025, has been an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at UCT.
Abstract: “Alice and Bob in Wonderland: A Journey through Carroll Physics”
The history of physics is incredibly convoluted, but when journeying through it, we find patterns that very hard to ignore because they tend to lead to really profound theories and branches of physics. The branch we are interested in exploring in this talk, is one christened Carroll Physics. Join me, accompanied by characters you may find in your favourite textbook discussing Special Relativity, Alice and Bob, as we travel through the History of physics. Taking a path you might not have seen before but will surely recognise, with the hopes of it leading us to the development of this idea, and the reasons it was named after famed author, Lewis Carroll.