Ray Norris is a retired Professor and an Emeritus Fellow at CSIRO Space & Astronomy. He researches the evolution of the Universe, and also studies the astronomy of Aboriginal Australians. He has about 400 radio and TV appearances, co-starred in the stage show "The First Astronomers" with an Aboriginal elder, and has written the novel "Graven Images". He was educated at Cambridge University, and University of Manchester, UK, and moved to Australia to join CSIRO, where he became Head of Astrophysics, Deputy Director of the Australia Telescope, and Director of the Australian Astronomy Major National Research Facility. He initiated the international EMU project to study the evolution of galaxies, and led the EMU team that discovered the mysterious ORCs (or Odd Radio Circled) that are still unexplained. He also studies the astronomy of Indigenous Australians and is fascinated by their many intellectual achievements as they sought to understand their Universe.

Click here to see him on BBC >> www.bbc.com/news/

Each of the following is a 45-minute talk. None contain any technical details, but are enlivened with humour and anecdotes, and have received great reviews by cruise audiences.

1. From the Big Bang to the End of the Universe
How did the Universe start, and how will it end? What is the role of Dark Energy? A brief history of the Universe from its earliest moments after the Big Bang, to the end of the human race, to the ultimate end when the Universe fades away.

2. Is there anybody out there?
Are we alone in the Universe? Surely there just be other planets out there, with civilisations like ours? So how come we have never detected signals from other civilizations, despite years of searching?

3. From Black Holes to Spaghettification
Are Black Holes real? Why are they black? And what happens if you fall into one?

4. Who were the first astronomers?
From England's Stonehenge to the Egyptian Pyramids, and the ancient Chinese records of “Guest Stars”, ancient people studied the skies. Why were they so interested in astronomy in the dawn of civilization?

5. Can we travel in time?
We have no idea how to make a time machine, nor if it's even possible. But there's nothing in the laws of physics that says it’s impossible. So how would we make a time machine? And how would we tell if someone had already done it?

6. Colliding Black Holes
In 2021 my team discovered mysterious circles of radio emission around distant galaxies. So what are they? Wormholes in space? Colliding galaxies? Recent clues suggest they are debris from enormous collisions between supermassive black holes.

7. Is Artificial Intelligence a threat to Humanity?
Artificial Intelligence is here to stay, and is rapidly growing in power. How does it work? Could it become our overlord? Or can we manage it so it becomes our trusted servant?

8. What shape is the Universe?
We know a lot about stars and galaxies, but they are like boats bobbing in a cosmic sea of dark matter and dark energy, that shapes and dominates the Universe. What are dark matter and dark energy, and how do they rule the Universe?

9. The world’s oldest story?
The ancient Greeks said that the Seven Sisters cluster of stars were a group of girls, chased by Orion. But virtually the same story is told by Australian Aboriginal people, and many other cultures. Can we trace this story back to our ancestors in Africa around 100,000 BC?

10. The Unexpected Universe
Many people think that science works by carefully analysing data and testing theories. But the biggest discoveries about the Universe (pulsars, quasars, dark matter, dark energy) have caught their discoverers by surprise.

11. The 19th-century supercomputer
In 1827 a book triggered the foundation of modern computers, stimulating Byron's daughter to invent the first programming language, outraged British society, and caused the Cambridge professor of astronomy to be fired for not discovering Neptune.

• 10-24 October 2012, Dawn Princess, Sydney-Fiji and South Pacific
• 8-25 April 2013, Celebrity Solstice, Sydney-Hawaii
• 3-17 January 2018, Royal Caribbean Radiance of the Seas, Sydney-Auckland
• 10-26 March 2019, Viking Orion, Sydney-Bali
• 10 -27 Feb 2020, Viking Jupiter, Buenos Aires to Valparaiso (South America and the Chilean Fjords)
• 27 March – 7 April 2024, Crystal Serenity, Perth-Singapore

The following recent Cruise History has been recorded for this candidate.