Because of the lecture series’ popularity, many would-be attendees missed out on the event—at least 50 people were turned away at the door after the lecture hall reached capacity.

“Over the course of the semester, I have had to turn people away on more nights than I haven’t,” said Joseph J. McDermott, a postdoctoral fellow in applied physics at Harvard who was managing the line. “It varies week to week. Last week, we had the Red Sox game and it was sort of an off-day.”

Many attendees at the back of the line said they were surprised that they were turned away.

“There’s no overflow room!?” one attendee shouted in disbelief.

Christina M. Andujar, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences administrator responsible for producing the lecture series, explained that SEAS could not afford an overflow room this year due to budgetary constraints. According to Andujar, the lecture series had sponsors in previous years to provide extra funding, but professors and SEAS administrators decided not to recruit any this season.

Andujar touted the fact that the event was open to the public rather than just Harvard students.

“I think it’s Harvard’s responsibility to reach out to the surrounding communities,” said Andujar. “We have huge property here. It is our responsibility to integrate and get the public into Harvard [so it can] see what we’re doing.”