Vaclav Pavlik - Outreach

My recent lectures and talks

College Public Science Symposium: "Tell your research story"

In 2021, I was awarded one of the IU Bicentennial Public Science and Math Award Lectures for science popularisation.

Lecture Day with Astropis

Outreach lecture in Czech on the evolution of black holes in star clusters, presented at the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Astropis

As an Editor-in-Chief and Author, I regularly write about astronomical observations and news, or popularise my own research for the Czech audience. I also interviewed several famous physicists for Astropis:

– Nobel Prize laureates Kip Thorne, Rainer Weiss, William Phillips, Wolfgang Ketterle, John Mather, and James Peebles

– Czech astronaut Aleš Svoboda, and ESA astronauts Paolo Nespoli and Matthias Maurer

Book author

O nenasytné černé díře (The ever-hungry black hole), Aventinum, 2026 (Czech, ISBN 978-80-7442-162-4), 2026 (English, ISBN 978-80-7442-163-1)

A fairy tale about a black hole that clearly explains what black holes are, how they grow, and how they influence nearby stars. The book is inspired by real astronomical and cosmological research on supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies, as well as dark matter and dark energy. It also contains a gastronomy appendix for children to cook their own black-hole cake.

Tajemství severní oblohy (The secret of the northern sky), Aventinum, 2026 (Czech, ISBN 978-80-7442-166-2), 2026 (English, ISBN 978-80-7442-165-5)

A fairy-tale story about the aurora that introduces children to real natural phenomena and the beauty of the night sky. Inspired by Finnish myths about arctic foxes and the northern lights. It also includes an astronomy section explaining what charged particles are, the composition of our Sun, and how auroras form.

O zmizelé hvězdě (The missing star), Aventinum, 2024 (Czech, ISBN 978-80-7442-157-0), 2026 (English, ISBN 978-80-7442-164-8)

A fairy-tale story about the star Betty (Betelgeuse), who decides to stop shining in the constellation Orion, and heads out on a journey through space. The book is inspired by real scientific research and the dimming of Betelgeuse in 2019–2020. A supplementary astronomy section explains to children the properties of stars and their life cycle.

Perseus a Andromeda (Perseus and Andromeda), Aventinum, 2025 (Czech, ISBN 978-80-7442-160-0)

A retelling of the myth of Perseus and Andromeda, enriched with astronomy of the autumn night sky, the motion of the stars, and the ancient Greeks’ view of the world. It is complemented by an astronomy experiment demonstrating how the Greeks discovered that the Earth is spherical.