by Victor Davis, Program Chair
Pay Attention!
The May, 2026 monthly meeting of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton will take place in Sherrerd Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, May 12th at 7:30 PM. As usual, the meeting is open to AAAP members and the public. Please note that Sherrerd Hall is a new venue, arranged for us by AAAP Assistant Director and Emeritus Princeton Professor Bob Vanderbei, who has an office in the building. Administrators in the Department of Astrophysics have co-opted our usual digs in Peyton Hall for exams, for reasons passing understanding. It remains to be seen whether this is a one-off proposition or we’ll be moving our corporeal-meeting act permanently elsewhere. The evening’s guest speaker will be John Horgan, a freelance science journalist and former staff writer for Scientific American. He has posted his self-published books Mind-Body Problems (2018) and My Quantum Experiment (2023) online, and comments on science in his free online journal, Cross-Check. Horgan teaches science writing at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Options for Attending the Meeting
You may choose to attend the meeting in person or participate via Zoom or YouTube. If you choose to participate virtually, you may log in as early as 7:00 pm to chat informally with your astrobuddies before the meeting begins promptly at 7:30. It’s polite, though not required, for you to enable your camera so other participants can see you. Please keep your microphone muted unless you are participating in a two-way discussion. The meeting will be recorded and edited for posting to our club’s YouTube channel.
“Meet the Speaker” Dinner
The club will host a “meet the speaker” dinner at Winberie’s Bar and Restaurant, 1 Palmer Square, across the street from the Princeton University campus before the meeting. Our reservation is for 5:45 pm. Director Rex Parker will host the dinner. Please RSVP to Rex if you plan to attend.
Here’s the anticipated agenda for May 12th 2026’s monthly meeting of the AAAP:
Featured Speaker:
John Horgan
Science Journalist
horganism3@gmail.com
Was “The End of Science” Too Optimistic?
Was “The End of Science” Too Optimistic?
In his controversial 1996 book “The End of Science,” John Horgan, then a senior writer at Scientific American, proposed that “pure science,” the great quest to comprehend the cosmos, might be bumping up against fundamental limits. Thirty years later, Horgan’s thesis continues to provoke debate. In this talk, Horgan will acknowledge that he has had second thoughts about his thesis. His book, he has recently decided, was too optimistic.
John Horgan
John Horgan is a science journalist and Director of the Center for Science Writings at Stevens Institute of Technology. A long-time contributor to Scientific American , he has also written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Times and other publications. The author of seven books, he frequently posts commentary on science-related topics at johnhorgan.org. The late Nobelist Philip Anderson coined the term “Horganism” to refer to Horgan’s curmudgeonly view of the destiny of science. Horgan accepts this chiding as a badge of honor.
How to Participate (Links)
Zoom & YouTube Live
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
Topic: May AAAP Meeting, John Horgan, End of Science
Time: May 12, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting
Meeting ID: 846 0203 3355
Passcode: 246796
Join instructions
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Click the above icons for Zoom and YouTube
AAAP’s library of monthly meetings is available on the club’s YouTube channel. April’s edited meeting featuring a presentation by Dr. Brian Lacki; “A Billion Whispers: Breakthrough Listen, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and Cosmic Ecology” is now available on the club’s YouTube channel.
A look ahead at future guest speakers:
| Date | Featured Speaker | Topic | |
| Jun 9, 2026 |  Jacob Hamer Assistant Curator NJ State Museum Planetarium Jacob.Hamer@sos.nj.gov | As usual, the June meeting will take place in the planetarium at the NJ State Museum in Trenton. There will be no streaming of this live-only sky show and PowerPoint presentation. Topic to be announced. | |
| Sep. 8, 2026 | Michael DiMario Chair of AAAP’s Astro-imaging SIG K2mjd@outlook.com  | Dr. DiMario will present a primer on astro-imaging. | |
| Oct. 13, 2026 | Becka Phillipson Assistant Professor in Physics Villanova University | Prof. Phillipson, originally scheduled to be October 2025’s guest speaker, is an unconfirmed prospect to try again in 2026. |
As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated. Thanks to Ira Polans and Dave Skitt for setting up the online links and connecting the meeting to the world outside Peyton Hall.
victor.davis@verizon.net
program@princetonastronomers.org
(908) 581-1780 cell
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton 