Cosmology

Charlie Conroy wins the AAS Helen. B. Warner Prize for 2017!

January 10, 2017

 

The American Astronomical Society has selected Professor Charlie Conroy to receive the Helen. B. Warner Prize for 2017.

The Helen B. Warner Prize is given annually for a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy during the five years preceding the award, to an astronomer who has not attained 36 years of age in the year designated for the award or who is within eight years of receipt of his or her Ph.D. degree. Your citation reads:

“The AAS awards Dr. Charlie Conroy the Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy for his work in modeling...

Read more about Charlie Conroy wins the AAS Helen. B. Warner Prize for 2017!
John M. Kovac

John M. Kovac

Professor of Astronomy and Physics

 

Research Interests: His cosmology research focuses on observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) to reveal signatures of the physics that drove the birth of the universe, the creation of its structure, and its present-day expansion. His research over the past two decades has involved the design, deployment, and operation of multiple generations of radio telescopes at the Amundsen-Scott Station at the South Pole.... Read more about John M. Kovac

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS 42
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 496-0611
Christopher Stubbs

Christopher Stubbs

Dean of Science
Samuel C. Moncher Professor of Physics and of Astronomy

Research Interests:  Foundations of gravitational physics, searches for dark matter, and observational cosmology.... Read more about Christopher Stubbs

Christopher Stubbs
Samuel C. Moncher Professor of Physics and of Astronomy
17 Oxford Street
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138
stubbs@physics.harvard.edu

The group’s lab and office space are located at 106 McKay at the Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology.
p: (617)495-1454

Lars Hernquist

Mallinckrodt Professor of Astrophysics

Research Interests: Theoretical studies of dynamical processes in cosmology and galaxy formation/galaxy evolution. Numerical simulations of stellar dynamical and hydrodynamical systems. Investigations of the physics of compact objects, particularly neutron stars and the interplay between thermal and magnetic processes in strongly magnetized neutron stars.... Read more about Lars Hernquist

Perkin Lab, P-235
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden St., MS-51
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 496-4180
Daniel Eisenstein

Daniel Eisenstein

Paul C. Mangelsdorf Professor of Astronomy
Chair of the Department

Research Interests:  Cosmology and extragalactic astronomy with a mix of theoretical and observational methods; the development of the baryon acoustic oscillation method to measure the cosmic distance scale and study dark energy.... Read more about Daniel Eisenstein

Perkin Lab, P-326
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
60 Garden Street, MS-20
Cambridge, MA 02138
p: (617) 495-7530
Anna Patej

ITC Graduate Student Anna Patej’s Thesis Honored

October 19, 2016

ITC Graduate Student Anna Patej has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2017 APS Division of Astrophysics Thesis Award, which recognizes original doctoral thesis work of outstanding scientific quality in the area of astrophysics. The pool of nominations was very impressive and it is a great accomplishment to make it into the final round.

As one of three finalists, Anna has been invited to present her thesis in a special invited session at the 2017...

Read more about ITC Graduate Student Anna Patej’s Thesis Honored
Abraham Loeb. 6/29/2016. “On the Habitability of Our Universe.” In Consolidation of Fine Tuning, edited by D Sloan, Pp. 51. Oxford University. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Is life most likely to emerge at the present cosmic time near a star like the Sun? We consider the habitability of the Universe throughout cosmic history, and conservatively restrict our attention to the context of “life as we know it” and the standard cosmological model, ΛCDM. The habitable cosmic epoch started shortly after the first stars formed, about 30 Myr after the Big Bang, and will end about 10 Tyr from now, when all stars will die. We review the formation history of habitable planets and find that unless habitability around low mass stars is suppressed, life is most likely to exist near ∼ 0.1M stars ten trillion years from now. Spectroscopic searches for biosignatures in the atmospheres of transiting Earth-mass planets around low mass stars will determine whether present-day life is indeed premature or typical from a cosmic perspective.

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