Mel Blake (Measuring The Size Of The Universe) grew up on the west coast of Newfoundland, where the skies are dark and the Milky Way stretches from horizon to horizon. He did his undergraduate and masters degree at Saint Mary's University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. For his PhD in astronomy at York University, Mel worked on a method for using contact binary stars for distance determinations. He is currently employed as a research assistant at the David Dunlap Observatory in Richmond Hill, Ontario.

One of the key tasks in astronomy is the quest for accurate distances to the objects under study. Without accurate distances one cannot understand the structure of galaxies and the universe, or the energy outputs of stars and other objects. Mel will describe the methods used to measure the distances to objects of various types, from nearby stars to distant quasars. This will then be followed by a description of the uncertainties associated with the different methods and what procedures might hold promise for accurate distance determinations in the future.