On March 17 and as part of the Science Forum program, the Chinese Meteorological Society held a popular science lecture at China Science and Technology Museum. Entitled “The Threat from the Sun——What Do We Know about the Year 2012”, the meticulously prepared lecture was delivered to some 120 members of the audience by Prof. Wang Jinsong, chief member of the Chinese Meteorological Society’s satellite meteorological committee, who concurrently also serves as deputy director of the China National Satellite Meteorological Center and director of the State Space Weather Monitoring & Early Warning Center. Starting from the rumors about the year 2012 and their origins, Prof. Wang explained to the audience in popular science terms the concepts of solar storm and space weather, as well as the impacts of spatial climatic calamities on the humanity.

Prof. Wang Jinsong delivers a popular science lecture on solar storms at China Science and Technology Museum

During the interaction time after the conclusion of the lecture, members of the audience vied with each other for questions, one of them asked: “What impacts do solar storms have on our health?”, another asked: “I wish to go to Antarctica as a tourist, do you think I can still make it this year?”. A 4 or 5-year old girl was curious about “why the sun would explode”. Prof. Wang answered these questions one by one at length. All members of the audience gave Prof. Wang a thumbs up and described his lecture as highly informative and insightful. One veteran scientist said, space weather used to be something extremely strange to many of us, and the hearsay about the year 2012 has made many people uneasy. This lecture however has helped clear up their suspicions.