News: Research

2023

“NSF awards $52M to upgrade Simons Observatory in Chile to explore origins of universe”, UChicago News

May 9, 2023

Improvements include upgraded receiver, solar panels to power the observatory and data processing pipeline.


“Prof. Wendy Freedman to present Ryerson Lecture on ‘Our Expanding Universe’ “, UChicago News

April 5, 2023

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.


Congratulations Diego Garza and Congratulations Aster Taylor

April 5, 2023

Diego Garza (Physics, Astrophysics, 2023) and Aster Taylor (Astrophysics, 2023) won the  NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.


New calibration of the ‘red giant method’ improves measurement of the Hubble constant

April 3, 2023

In a new paper in Nature Astronomy, Taylor Hoyt –who received his Ph.D from UChicago in 2022 and is currently a researcher in Berkeley Lab’s Physics Division – presents a new approach to calibrating the measurement of the universe’s present day expansion rate.


The Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society has selected Richard G. Kron’s collaborative research project for 2023–2024

February 14, 2023

“Capturing the Stars: Women’s Networks and the Advancement of Science at Yerkes Observatory, 1895–1940”, Richard G. Kron (Astronomy and Physics), Kristine Palmieri (Institute on the Formation of Knowledge), Andrea Twiss-Brooks (The University of Chicago Library), Emily Kern (History).


“Scientists release newly accurate map of all the matter in the universe”, UChicago News

February 2, 2023

Analysis combines Dark Energy Survey, South Pole Telescope data to understand evolution of universe


A coherent story of the Universe from galaxy and CMB surveys

January 31, 2023

Combining data from the Dark Energy Survey and the South Pole Telescope, scientists piece together a coherent story of the Universe from galaxy and CMB surveys. These are some of the most stringent tests of the standard cosmological model using cross-correlations of independent data sets.


“NASA’s TESS Discovers Planetary System’s Second Earth-Size World”, www.nasa.gov

January 11, 2023

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, scientists have identified an Earth-size world, called TOI 700 e, orbiting within the habitable zone of its star – the range of distances where liquid water could occur on a planet’s surface. The world is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky.


2022

“How Star Collisions Forge the Universe’s Heaviest Elements”, by Sanjana Curtis, Scientific American

December 15, 2022

Scientists have new evidence about how cosmic cataclysms forge gold, platinum and other heavy members of the periodic table


“Meet astronomy and astrophysics student, Madison Brady”,  PSD News

November 28, 2022

Madison is currently studying exoplanets, which are planets that aren’t in our solar system. Most of her work is observational, using telescopes and data analysis.


“Many planets could have atmospheres rich in helium, study finds”, UChicago News

November 22, 2022

Study suggests answer to “radius valley” mystery in the field of exoplanet studies.


“James Webb Space telescope reveals a faraway planet’s band of clouds “, UChicago News

November 18, 2022

New measurements paint detailed portrait of an exoplanet’s atmosphere.


“Discovering the highest energy particles from the top of the Greenland Ice Sheet”, PSD spotlight

October 27, 2022

Prof. Abigail Vieregg and her students build instruments to detect the highest energy neutrinos.


Congratulations to Abigail Vieregg

October 27, 2022

Abigail Vieregg received a Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators Initiative Award for instrumentation development to advance the detection of the highest energy neutrinos.


New Schmidt Futures Fellowship at UChicago to Foster Next Generation of AI-Driven Scientists

October 26, 2022

The Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, will train the next generation of scientists combining research in both AI and science fields, including physics, astronomy and biology.