The Universe in Verse — an annual celebration of science through poetry, hosted by Maria Popova – returns with a very special edition: This year’s show, benefiting Pioneer Works’ endeavor to build New York’s first-ever public observatory, celebrates the 100th anniversary of Sir Arthur Eddington’s historic eclipse expedition to Africa, which confirmed relativity and catapulted Einstein into celebrity.

This evening of poems and stories about eclipses, relativity, spacetime, and Einstein’s legacy, features readings by musicians David Byrne, Regina Spektor, Amanda Palmer, Emily Wells, and Josh Groban, astrophysicists Janna Levin and Natalie Batalha, poets Elizabeth Alexander, Diane Ackerman, and Marilyn Nelson, actor Natascha McElhone, comedian Chuck Nice, choreographer Bill T. Jones, On Being host Krista Tippett, with some thrilling surprises in wait.

Learn more here.