2023
Special A&A/Chemistry seminar: Dimitar Sasselov (Harvard University)
2:00–3:00 pm ERC 161
Dimitar Sasselov (Harvard University) “Environments for the Origins of Life”
Astro Tuesday: Andrea Bryant and Jason Poh
12:00–1:00 pm ERC 501
Andrea Bryant “Seismic investigation of Saturn’s moon Titan using full waveform modeling” and Jason Poh “Towards Automated Strong Lens Modeling with Simulation-Based Inference”
Ryerson Lecture: Wendy Freedman (UChicago)
5:00–6:00 pm Rubenstein Forum
Prof. Wendy Freedman, a leading astronomer who has made fundamental measurements of our universe, will deliver the 2023 Nora and Edward Ryerson Lecture on May 15 at the Rubenstein Forum at the University of Chicago.
Compton Lecture: Seth Koren (UChicago)
11:00 am–12:00 pm MCP 201
Seth Koren (UChicago) “Particles, the Cosmos, and You: An Origin Story from the Edges of Space and Time”
In memory of Erik Shirokoff
8:00 am–6:00 pm ERC 161
Erik Shirokoff, astronomer who built instruments to map the universe, 1979-2023. Remembered as patient and generous teacher and mentor.
Brinson Lecture: Jane Rigby (NASA GSFC)
6:00–7:30 pm Spertus Museum, Feinberg Theater
The James Webb Space Telescope is, by orders of magnitude, the most powerful telescope ever built. Webb is many things at once: a transformative scientific instrument, a demanding feat of engineering, an international collaboration, and, it has become a hopeful symbol of what humanity can accomplish. In her lecture, Dr. Rigby will describe how 20,000 of the world’s best engineers designed and built this audacious deployable telescope, then tested it on the ground to be sure it would unfurl correctly a million miles out in space.
Seminar: Dimitar Sasselov (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
2:00–3:00 pm GCIS 301
Dimitar Sasselov (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) “The Chiral Puzzle of Life’s Origins”
KICP colloquium: Laura Mersini-Houghton (University of North Carolina)
3:30–4:30 pm ERC 161
Laura Mersini-Houghton (University of North Carolina) “The Origin of Our Universe”
Astronomy special seminar: Jane Rigby (NASA)
11:00 am–12:00 pm MCP 201
Jane Rigby (NASA) “Using Gravitational Lensing to Dissect Star-Forming Galaxies”
Astro Tuesday: Rebecca Diesing and Zhuowen Zhang
12:00–1:00 pm ERC 501
Rebecca Diesing “Understanding the multi-wavelength emission from astrophysical shocks” and Zhuowen Zhang “Covariance modeling for cluster weak lensing observables”