News

2022

Congratulations to our students received the NSF GSRFs Awards

April 14, 2022

Graduate student Alice Burington, undergraduate student Nick Corso, undergraduate student  Viraj Manwadkar, and undergraduate student Jared Siegel  received the NSF GSRFs Award.


Michael Zhang has been selected for the Heising-Simons Foundation 51 Pegasi b Fellowship

March 31, 2022

The Heising-Simons Foundation today announced Michael Zhang, California Institute of Technology, Astronomy Ph.D.’22, as a recipient of the 51 Pegasi b Fellowship. He is among eight fellows selected for 2022. Zhang will be joining the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics in the Fall term as a postdoctoral researcher as part of the fellowship, which was established in 2017 by the Heising-Simons Foundation, and named for the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star.


“Eugene Parker, ‘legendary figure’ in solar science and namesake of Parker Solar Probe, 1927-2022”, UChicago News by Louise Lerner

March 16, 2022

Eugene Parker, University of Chicago Prof. Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics, is remembered for seminal contributions to the understanding of our sun and solar system.


“196 lasers help scientists recreate the conditions inside gigantic galaxy clusters”, UChicago News by Louise Lerner

March 12, 2022

Experiments point the way to solving mystery that keeps clusters hot.


James Truran, pioneer in nuclear astrophysics and beloved colleague, 1940-2022

March 6, 2022

Prof. Emeritus James W. Truran, who helped lay the foundations for our understanding of how virtually all elements of the universe were created in stellar explosions, died March 5. He was 81.


Prof. Wendy Freedman named speaker for UChicago’s 2022 Convocation celebration, UChicago News

March 3, 2022

Prof. Wendy Freedman will address this year’s graduating class on the Main Quad. A renowned cosmologist, Freedman led the team that made a landmark measurement in 2001 of the Hubble constant—the rate at which the universe is expanding.


Michael Zhang, Inaugural Margarett Burbidge Prize Postdoc Fellow

March 1, 2022

Meet new Department member: Michael Zhang, Inaugural Margarett Burbidge Prize Postdoc Fellow


Tsang Keung Chan, Inaugural Margarett Burbidge Prize Postdoc Fellow

March 1, 2022

Meet new Department member: Tsang Keung Chan, Inaugural Margarett Burbidge Prize Postdoc Fellow


“Twelve for dinner: How the Milky Way ‘ate’ smaller star clusters and galaxies”, UChicago News

January 12, 2022

Study including UChicago scientists creates map of nearby stellar streams and dark matter


NASA gives go-ahead for $20M multi-institution balloon experiment led by UChicago scientists

January 6, 2022

University of Chicago physicist Abby Vieregg is leading an international experiment that essentially uses the ice in Antarctica as a giant detector to find extremely energetic particles from outer space. Recently approved by NASA, the $20 million project will build an instrument to fly above the Antarctic in a balloon, launching in December 2024.


Hsiao-Wen Chen named AAS Fellow

January 5, 2022

Professor Hsiao-Wen Chen in the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics has been named 2022 American Astronomical Society Fellows. The AAS Fellows program was established in 2019 to recognize AAS members for their contributions toward the Society's mission of enhancing and sharing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.  


Richard Kron named AAS Fellow

January 5, 2022

Professor Emeritus Richard Kron in the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics has been named 2022 American Astronomical Society Fellows. The AAS Fellows program was established in 2019 to recognize AAS members for their contributions toward the Society's mission of enhancing and sharing humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.  


2021

Black holes have tantrums, and scientists have finally captured the resulting gamma rays

November 18, 2021


Prof. Eugene Parker accepts prestigious Crafoord Prize in Astronomy

November 18, 2021


“Priorities for next 10 years of astronomy include exoplanets, early days of universe”, UChicago News

November 8, 2021

Astro2020 survey prioritizes UChicago-affiliated projects such as Giant Magellan Telescope, CMB-S4