The Amaz!ng Meeting is an annual conference that focuses on science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, skepticism

Skepticism

Skepticism has many definitions, but generally refers to any questioning attitude towards knowledge, facts, or opinions/beliefs stated as facts, or doubt regarding claims that are taken for granted elsewhere...

, and atheism

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

. It was started in 2003 by the James Randi Educational Foundation

James Randi Educational Foundation

The James Randi Educational Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in 1996 by magician and skeptic James Randi. The JREF's mission includes educating the public and the media on the dangers of accepting unproven claims, and to support research into paranormal claims in controlled...

. Perennial speakers include Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Hitchens

Christopher Eric Hitchens is an Anglo-American author and journalist whose books, essays, and journalistic career span more than four decades. He has been a columnist and literary critic at The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, Slate, World Affairs, The Nation, Free Inquiry, and became a media fellow at the...

, Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller

Penn & Teller are Las Vegas headliners whose act is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally uses mime while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance...

, Phil Plait, Michael Shermer

Michael Shermer

Michael Brant Shermer is an American science writer, historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and Editor in Chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. The Skeptics Society currently has over 55,000 members...

 and Julia Sweeney

Julia Sweeney

Julia Anne Sweeney is an American actress, comedian and author best known as a cast member on Saturday Night Live and for her autobiographical solo shows.-Personal life:...

.

Guests

Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins

Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...

 and Joe Nickell

Joe Nickell

Joe Nickell is a prominent skeptical investigator of the paranormal. He also works as an historical document consultant and has helped expose such famous forgeries as the purported diary of Jack the Ripper. In 2002 he was one of a number of experts asked by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr...

 appeared at the 2005 TAM 3.

TAM 4 in 2006 saw ACLU president Nadine Strossen

Nadine Strossen

Nadine Strossen was president of the American Civil Liberties Union from February 1991 to October 2008. She was the first woman and the youngest person to ever lead the ACLU. A professor at New York Law School, Professor Strossen sits on the Council on Foreign Relations...

, planetary scientist with the Voyager program Carolyn Porco

Carolyn Porco

Carolyn C. Porco is an American planetary scientist known for her work in the exploration of the outer solar system, beginning with her imaging work on the Voyager missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune in the 1980s. She leads the imaging science team on the Cassini mission currently in...

, MythBusters

MythBusters

MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...

Jamie Hyneman

Jamie Hyneman

James Franklin "Jamie" Hyneman is an American special effects expert, best known for being the co-host of the television series MythBusters. He is also the owner of M5 Industries, the special effects workshop where MythBusters is filmed...

 and Adam Savage

Adam Savage

Adam Whitney Savage is an American industrial design and special effects designer/fabricator, actor, educator, and co-host of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters. His model work has appeared in major films, including Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and The Matrix...

, The Skeptic's Dictionary author Robert Todd Carroll

Robert Todd Carroll

Robert Todd Carroll , Ph.D., is an American writer and academic. Carroll has written several books and skeptical essays but achieved notability by publishing the Skeptic's Dictionary online in 1994.-Early life and education:...

 and Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann

Murray Gell-Mann

Murray Gell-Mann is an American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles...

.

TAM 5, held January 18, 2007 – January 21, 2007, included regulars Michael Shermer, Penn & Teller, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Wiseman

Richard Wiseman

Richard Wiseman is Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.Wiseman started his professional life as a magician, before graduating in Psychology from University College London and obtaining a Ph.D...

, MythBuster Adam Savage

Adam Savage

Adam Whitney Savage is an American industrial design and special effects designer/fabricator, actor, educator, and co-host of the Discovery Channel television series MythBusters. His model work has appeared in major films, including Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and The Matrix...

, and Phil Plait. Also presenting were Eugenie Scott

Eugenie Scott

Eugenie Carol Scott is an American physical anthropologist who has been the executive director of the National Center for Science Education since 1987...

, Peter Sagal

Peter Sagal

Peter Sagal is an American playwright, screenwriter, actor, and host of the National Public Radio game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He is originally from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, although he currently resides in Oak Park, Illinois. Sagal attended Harvard University in Cambridge,...

, Neil Gershenfeld

Neil Gershenfeld

Neil Gershenfeld is a professor at MIT and the head of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms, a sister lab spun out of the popular MIT Media Lab. His research interests are mainly in interdisciplinary studies involving physics and computer science, in such fields as quantum computing, nanotechnology,...

, Nick Gillespie

Nick Gillespie

Nick Gillespie is the editor of Reason.com and Reason.tv and was the editor in chief of Reason magazine from 2000 to 2008...

, John Rennie

John Rennie (editor)

John Rennie was the seventh editor in chief of Scientific American magazine. He holds a bachelors of science degree in biology from Yale University...

, Lori Lipman Brown

Lori Lipman Brown

Lori Lipman Brown has served as a state senator, lobbyist, lawyer, educator, and social worker supporter. Additionally, her political views have been secularist and civil libertarian and describes herself as an atheist humanist Jew. She served as a Nevada Senator from 1992 to 1994, advocating for...

 and Margaret Downey

Margaret Downey

Margaret Downey is an atheist activist who is the former President of Atheist Alliance International and founder and president of the Freethought Society...

. South Park

South Park

South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

creators Trey Parker

Trey Parker

Trey Parker is an American animator, screenwriter, director, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of the television series South Park along with his creative partner and best friend Matt Stone.Parker started his film career in 1992, making a holiday short...

 and Matt Stone

Matt Stone

Matthew Richard "Matt" Stone is an American screenwriter, producer, voice artist, musician and actor, best known for being the co-creator of South Park along with creative partner and best friend, Trey Parker....

 also made an appearance.

The 2008 TAM 6 meeting was held at The Flamingo

Flamingo Las Vegas

The Flamingo Las Vegas is a hotel casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada and is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment Corp.. The property offers a casino along with 3,626 hotel rooms...

 in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...

 from June 19 to 22. Speakers included Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, a science communicator, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History...

 (the keynote speaker), PZ Myers

PZ Myers

Paul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...

 and Richard Saunders

Richard Saunders (skeptic)

Richard Saunders is an Australian skeptic, podcaster and professional origamist. He has received recognition by the Australian Skeptics with a Life Membership in 2001 for his contributions to the organisation...

, all of whom debuted at this TAM, and regulars such as Phil Plait, Penn & Teller and the cast of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is a weekly, 80 minute podcast hosted by Steven Novella, MD, and a panel of "skeptical rogues". It is the official podcast of the New England Skeptical Society, and is produced in conjunction with the James Randi Educational Foundation...

podcast.

On February 2, 2009, JREF President Phil Plait announced that TAM 7 would take place from July 9 to 12 of that year. He also announced TAM London, the first ever TAM held outside the US, which took place on October 3–4 of 2009.

On November 28, 2009, Australian Skeptics

Australian Skeptics

The Australian Skeptics is a non-profit organisation based in Australia which investigates paranormal and pseudoscientific claims using scientific methodologies.-History:...

 in conjunction with JREF announced "TAM Australia" would take place from November 26 to 28, 2010 at the Sydney Masonic Centre, Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia.

TAM 8 took place from July 8 to 11, 2010 at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

. In addition giving the keynote address, Richard Dawkins hosted a private dinner for James Randi and 20 guests. Other speakers included the hosts of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe is a weekly, 80 minute podcast hosted by Steven Novella, MD, and a panel of "skeptical rogues". It is the official podcast of the New England Skeptical Society, and is produced in conjunction with the James Randi Educational Foundation...

, Roy Zimmerman, Phil Plait, Simon Singh, evolutionary scientist and contrarian Massimo Pigliucci

Massimo Pigliucci

Massimo Pigliucci is the chair of the Department of Philosophy at CUNY-Lehman College. He is also the editor in chief for the journal . He is known as an outspoken critic of creationism and advocate of science education.-Biography:...

.

The second London meeting, TAM London 2010, took place from 16 to 17 October 2010.

TAM 9 from Outer Space took place July 14 to 17, 2011 at the Southpoint Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas

Las Vegas metropolitan area

The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...

. The keynote presentation on July 15 by Neil DeGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, a science communicator, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and a Research Associate in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History...

 was preceded by a popular panel discussion "Our Future in Space" featuring Tyson, Bill Nye

Bill Nye

William Sanford "Bill" Nye , popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American science educator, comedian, television host, actor, mechanical engineer, and scientist...

, Pamela Gay, Lawrence Krauss and moderator Phil Plait.