ID the Future Intelligent Design, Evolution, and Science Podcast
Author

Bijan Nemati

earth moon
blue earth seen from the moon surface

Bijan Nemati on Another Big Space Telescope, and The Privileged Planet

On this ID the Future, astrophysicist Bijan Nemati delves further into why intelligent design matters to him and into the exciting work he’s doing for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman space telescope, slated for deployment in three or four years. That telescope and his contribution to it, as it so happens, tie directly into the popular science documentary he participated in, The Privileged Planet. Nemati describes how the instrument his company is building for the telescope is designed to aid in the search for earth-like planets beyond our solar system and why the list of criteria for planetary habitability is longer than many people suppose.

Hubble Goes High Def to Revisit the Iconic 'Pillars of Creation'

Astrophysicist Bijan Nemati on Why Intelligent Design Matters

On today’s ID the Future, astrophysicist and intelligent design proponent Bijan Nemati shares the first part of his story of science and faith. Those who follow Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture may know Nemati from his appearance in the popular ID documentary The Privileged Planet. Born and raised in Iran, he moved to the United States shortly before the Iranian revolution, became an atheist in college, but eventually found his way to a strong religious faith, in part through his exposure to the scientific evidence for intelligent design, first in biology and then in cosmology. Along the way he landed a high-level job with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and became a leading expert in space interferometer telescopes and the science and technology of detecting earth-like planets. Tune in as he shares with host Eric Anderson his journey of discovery.

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Bijan Nemati on What the James Webb Telescope May Discover

Today’s ID the Future explores with physicist and space telescope expert Bijan Nemati the amazing discoveries that may await us when the singularly powerful James Webb space telescope goes on line in summer 2022. Nemati and host Jay Richards, co-author of The Privileged Planet, discuss the telescope’s ability to see far deeper into space than any previous telescope, and further into the past. If all goes well it will be able to see so far into the past, Nemati says, that we will get glimpses of the universe close to when galaxies were first forming, not long after the Big Bang. These glimpses may confirm our most current ideas of early cosmic history and galaxy formation, or turn them on their head. Nemati also explains how the new space telescope, already launched and arrived at its orbital point in space, will provide us potentially exciting new information about extrasolar planets. What are the telescope’s strengths and weaknesses, and are there any other telescopes in the works to complement the Webb telescope? As a matter of fact, Nemati himself is working on one of those future telescopes, and he gives Richards and podcast listeners a sneak peek at the project.

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A Webb Telescope Tour with Space Telescope Expert Bijan Nemati

On today’s ID the Future, physicist Bijan Nemati, an expert in advanced astronomical instruments, discusses the new James Webb space telescope with host Jay Richards. The NASA telescope has been successfully launched into space and has reached its destination, known as the Lagrange Point 2, roughly a million miles from Earth. If all goes well with the extremely delicate multi-phase deployment, the Webb telescope will go online in late spring or early summer 2022 and begin sending back stunning images. In this first of two episodes, Nemati describes the remaining steps in the telescope’s deployment, some of the extraordinary technology involved, and the telescope’s amazing powers, including its ability to see into the far infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and deeper into space by far than any telescope before. For more from Center for Science and Culture senior fellows Nemati and Richards on astronomy, physics, and the evidence for intelligent design in the fine tuning of Earth and the cosmos for life and discovery, check out The Privileged Planet documentary, available here. (Image credit Kevin Gill, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Webb_Space_Telescope_(14742910940).jpg)

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Distant planet system in space with exoplanets 3D rendering elements of this image furnished by NASA

Bijan Nemati on Finding Another Earth

On this episode of ID the Future, Bijan Nemati, formerly of CalTech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and now at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, tells what science is learning about how hard it is to find a planet like Earth. Anywhere. The more we learn about the conditions necessary for a planet to host life, the more we see we may need to search at least tens of thousands of Milky Way galaxies to expect to find another one — at least if it all depends on blind luck. This talk is part of bonus material included with the new, thought-provoking series Science Uprising.