Special Public Program – Saturday, October 12, 2024
Berthoud High School Auditorium
Doors Open: 6:30 P.M. | Film: 7:00-8:30 | Meet the Stars: 8:30-9:00 P.M.
Observing at LTO: 9:00-10:00
Exclusive Film Screening – Free to the Public
Award Winning Documentary by Katie Dellamaggiore
Q&A with Physics Graduate Student and SETI Researcher
Ellie White
Small Town Universe paints an intimate and captivating portrait of life in Green Bank, West Virginia, home to the world’s most sensitive radio telescope and the only U.S. town where Wi-Fi and cell phones are banned. In this uniquely radio-quiet community, scientists use the telescope to search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence and to advance the field of radio astronomy while residents navigate through pivotal moments of existence, forming deep connections with the universe, science, and one another.
Many who have seen this documentary say that it has changed their lives by helping them connect more deeply with family and neighbors. This is an unbiased look into science, faith, family life, bureaucracy, community tradition, personal health, and the dramatic impact of modern technology.
This is a film for the whole family. Inspiring for the young; uplifting for the elderly; encouraging for absolutely everyone. It delivers a picture of scientific research at work, woven into the experiences and daily lives of several families.
It also documents the incredible power of individuals who come together in a crisis to save what is truly important to them through cooperation, mutual understanding, effective organization and collective action.
Ellie White and her family are featured prominently in the documentary, as Katie Dellamaggiore and her film crew followed people and events in Green Bank through many years—essentially from the time Ellie was a very young student thinking about life’s choices, through her adventures working at the Green Bank Observatory, and now as a teacher and graduate student.
Others whose lives are intertwined with the Green Bank story include cutting-edge research scientists, local farmers with deep roots in the land and its people, individuals escaping the effects of electromagnetic technology to live in the National Radio Quiet Zone for their health, a family facing loss of jobs and income, and an elderly scientist with unwavering optimism and deep faith as he nears the end of his life.
Ellie White is currently a graduate student and longtime science geek. She is pursuing a Master’s degree in Physics at Marshall University, where she also teaches introductory astronomy and physics classes. Through the years she has worked on research projects in the fields of astronomical instrumentation and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) with the Green Bank Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the UC Berkeley SETI Research Center, and the SETI Institute, for which she received the 2021 SETI Forward Award.
Her other passions include astronomy and STEM outreach and DEI efforts, and she is a founding member of the nonprofit West Virginia Alliance for STEM and the Arts. In her free time, she likes spending time with her family, friends, and pets, enjoying the outdoors, baking obsessively, reading, and watching too many rom coms.
Little Thompson Observatory is privileged to host Ellie and her family for this special screening.
Following the film, Ellie will be available for a Q&A session and is always happy to discuss new developments in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and the ways by which she is inspiring a new generation of STEM students.
Katie Dellamaggiore Ellie White
Following the film and talk by Ellie White, the Little Thompson Observatory will be open for public viewing through our telescopes, weather permitting.
For more information, please visit the LTO web site at www.starkids.org
