RADIOACTIVITY AFTER DARK! is a new way to discover science and history at the Atomic Museum!
Thursday, May 15th 6:00PM to 9:00PM
Each RAD! will feature exclusive talks and engagements in a relaxed and approachable evening atmosphere. Stroll through museum galleries, get creative at art stations, listen to compelling programming, relax with DJ spun tunes, or engage with the Atomic Museum team. However you choose to spend your evening, it’s going to be a RAD! night at the Atomic Museum! RAD! at the Atomic Museum Select Thursday evenings in 2025 from 6pm to 9pm. Discounted Atomic Museum admission at $15. Advanced purchase recommended. Limited tickets at the door.
7:00PM Atomic Fossils - With Dr. Ranger Lauren Parry, Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument
Explore a different side of atomic history in Las Vegas! Time is such an important variable when learning about patterns, change, or stability in the world around us. For hundreds of years, there was no way to measure absolute ages of the recent geologic past. Then, in the 1940s, atomic scientist Dr. Willard Libby changed everything. The method he developed, radiocarbon dating, is so valuable for geology, paleontology, and archeology that its developer was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1960. When it came time in the 1960s to test this method for the first time in a large-scale field study, Tule Springs in the Las Vegas Valley became their outdoor laboratory. To this day, radiocarbon dating is one of the most important and effective methods to help answer questions about our ancient past. Learn how science can evolve and reframe our past with new perspectives and technology.
"Dr. Ranger Lauren" is a paleontologist and Park Ranger at Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument in the upper Las Vegas Wash, Nevada. Throughout her career and schooling, she has conducted fieldwork on Nevada's public lands, managed fossil museum collections, researched the lives of extinct mammoths, and is now helping to build a new fossil park from the ground up. Lauren earned her doctorate in paleontology from UNLV in 2020 and enjoys using her background and expertise to collaborate with other scientists, artists, educators, and planners. Learning is her passion, and Lauren hopes to connect the community to park science and place-based history.