Events

Colloquia

 
Colloquia: The Astronomy Department has regular, weekly colloquia during the fall and spring terms by distinguished scientists and scholars covering essentially all aspects of current astronomy, astrophysics, and space sciences - observations, theory, simulations, instrumentation, and history of astronomy. 
 
The colloquia are held every Thursday afternoon 3:30-4:30 pm in person with a Zoom option. The public is welcome. To view via Zoom, please contact Monica Carpenter (mla20@cornell.edu), or Jason Jennings (jej34@cornell.edu) for the link.
 
NOTE:  
  • All Cornell community members should take personal responsibility and demonstrate COVID-19 etiquette.
  • Hybrid participation: Zoom and in person (Rm 105 Space Sciences Building)
Date Topic Speaker      
     
08/31/2023 On the Nature of Fast Radio Bursts Gold Lecture - Vicky Kaspi
     
09/07/2023 "IT TAKES TWO:
ON THE SECULAR AND STOCHASTIC DYNAMICS
OF THE WEIRD WIDE BINARIES IN THE MILKY WAY"		 Chris Hamilton, Institute for Advanced Study
     
09/14/2023

"The CCAT Project:  Status, Prospects and Early Science"

 Gordon Stacey, CCAT, Dept of Astronomy, Cornell University
     
09/21/2023

“Trojan Odyssey: NASA’s Lucy Discovery Mission and the Quest for Solar System Origins”

 Jim Bell, Arizona State University
     
09/28/2023 "Galaxies in the Radio and their Dynamic Components" Dillon Dong, Caltech
     
10/05/2023

"The Origins of the Universe's Fastest Transients"

 Wen-fai Fong, Northwestern University
     
10/12/2023 "Exploration of the Solar System via Sample Return Missions" Terzian Lecture - Meenakshi Wadhwa, Arizona State U
     
10/19/2023

"Looking for cracks in the cosmological model"

 Jo Dunkley, Princeton University
     
10/26/2023

"Discovering sources of millihertz gravitational radiation using photons from synoptic surveys"

 Kevin Burdge, MIT
     
11/02/2023 TBA

TBA

 
     
11/09/2023 TBA Gordon Lecture: Dr. Heino Falcke
     
11/16/2023 "The Chaotic Lives of Planetary Systems" Dan Tamayo, Harvey Mudd College
     
11/30/2023 TBA Maryame El Moutamid,Senior Research Associate, CCAPS, Cornell University

 

Planetary Lunch

The Planetary Lunch Seminar Series (PLunch) is an informal seminar series with talks that are relevant to everybody with an interest in planetary science.  Speakers include both members of the Cornell community and visitors.  Talks are aimed to appeal to and presented by faculty members, research associates, and both graduate and undergraduate students from various academic departments.  The seminars will be on the Mondays listed below at 12:15 pm in the Terzian Conference Room (Rm 622 Space Sciences Bldg).  To view via Zoom, please email Peiyu Wu (pw443@cornell.edu) for the link. 

NOTE: 

  • In person attendance is restricted to Cornell students, staff and faculty. 
  • All Cornell community members should take personal responsibility and demonstrate COVID-19 etiquette.
Date    
Topic
Speaker
Aug 28, 2023 “Dynamics of white-dwarf planetary
systems: origins of metal pollution
and short-period companions”		 Christopher O'Connor (Cornell)
Sep 18, 2023
 "The Volcanism of Io: How its
Largest Eruptions Have Changed
Over Time"
Christian Tate (Cornell)
Oct 3, 2023 CANCELLLED  
Oct 16, 2023 TBD Maryse Napoleoni (Freie Univ. Berlin)
Oct 30, 2023 TBD An Foster (Cornell)
Nov 13, 2023 TBD Sagnick Mukherjee (UCSC)
Nov 27, 2023  

Astrophysics Lunch

Astrophysics Lunch is a series of informal talks on topics related to theoretical astrophysics, gravitational physics, and cosmology.  Speakers are free to present their own research or present papers that they find of particular interest.  The audience consists of faculty members, research staff, as well as graduate and undergraduate students, so talks should be at a level accessible to most. Astrophysics Lunch is open to talks from all members of the Cornell community, as well as to visiting scientists. We will reschedule a local speaker in order to accommodate visitors.

Astrophysics Lunch is held every Wednesday during the academic year at 12:15 PM. Please contact Larry Kidder (kidder@astro.cornell.edu) for further information.

NOTE: 

  • In person attendance is restricted to Cornell students, staff and faculty. 
  • All Cornell community members should take personal responsibility and demonstrate COVID-19 etiquette.
  • In-person participation only in the Terzian Conference Room (Rm 622).
Date Topic Speaker
Aug 30, 2023 Informal discussion on FRBs and Neutron Stars Vicky Kaspi (McGill) & Dong Lai
Sep 6, 2023 "Planetesimal Formation Instigated
by Diffusive Instabilities"		 Konstantin Gerbig (Yale)
Sep 13, 2023

"Exploring the Nonlinear Nature
of General Relativity with Binary
Black Hole Ringdowns"

 Keefe Mitman (Caltech)
Sep 20, 2023    
Sep 27, 2023 Cancelled  
Oct 4, 2023 "Developing and Examining Beyond-GR Waveforms" Marceline Bonilla (Cal State Fullerton)
Oct 11, 2023 "Bringing Mars Samples Back to Earth" Meenakshi Wadhwa (ASU)
Oct 18, 2023 TBA Deborah Ferguson (U. Illinois)
Oct 25, 2023 TBA Mike Pajkos (Caltech)
Nov 1, 2023 TBA Padi Boyd (NASA Goddard)
Nov 8, 2023 TBA Heino Falcke (Radboud U.)
Nov 15, 2023 TBA Derek Fox (Penn State)
Nov 22, 2023 Thanksgiving Break  
Nov 29, 2023 TBD Max Isi (Flatiron Institute)
Dec 6, 2023

 

 
Dec 13, 2023    

Galaxy and Cosmology Lunch

The Galaxy and Cosmology Lunch Series is held on the Tuesdays listed below, from 12:00 to 1:00 in the Terzian Conference Room (Rm 622 SSB) and via zoom.  Please email Jill Tarbell (jtm14@cornell.edu) for zoom link.

NOTE: 

  • In person attendance is restricted to Cornell students, staff and faculty. 
  • All Cornell community members should take personal responsibility and demonstrate COVID-19 etiquette.

In general, the topics are related to galactic and extragalactic astronomy, and large-scale structure. The audience consists of faculty members, research staff, as well as graduate and undergraduate students. Galaxy Lunch is open to talks from all members of the Cornell Astronomy department, as well as to visiting scientists and speakers from different disciplines/departments.

Date Topic Speaker
Aug 29, 2023

Welcome & Introduction

 All
Sep 05, 2023 "Magnification bias estimators for realistic surveys – an application to BOSS" Lukas Wenzl
Sep 12, 2023  "Creating [CII] luminosity models and maps for the COSMOS field at the
epoch of reionization"		 Jonathan Clarke (U. Koeln)
Sep 19, 2023

"Effect of Atmospheric Noise on
[CII] Line Intensity Mapping with
EoR-Spec"

 Ankur Dev (U. Bonn)
Sep 26, 2023 "Can cosmologists do astrophysics: submillimeter line intensity mapping" Christos Karoumpis (U. Bonn)
Oct 03, 2023 CANCELLED  
Oct 10, 2023 FALL BREAK (no lecture)  
Oct 17, 2023 Cancelled Cancelled
Oct 24, 2023 TBD Lawrence Lin
Oct 31, 2023

TBD

 Amit Vishwas
Nov 07, 2023 TBD Ben Keller
Nov 14, 2023 TBD Alicia Middleton
Nov 21, 2023    
Nov 28, 2023    
Dec 05, 2023

 

  
     

The Thomas Gold Lecture Series

On the occasion of the retirement of the world famous astrophysicist, Tommy Gold, the University established the Thomas Gold Lectureship in Astronomy to bring outstanding scientists to Cornell for brief visits. 

Former Thomas Gold Lecturers:

  • 1987-88: Peter Goldreich (Caltech)
  • 1988-89 Joseph Taylor (Princeton)
  • 1989-90 Martin Rees (University of Cambridge)
  • 1990-91 Dennis Sciama (University of Oxford)
  • 1991-92 Gordon Pettengill (MIT)
  • 1992-93 Tony Hewish (University of Cambridge)
  • 1993-94 Irwin Shapiro (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
  • 1994-95 Wallace Sargent (Caltech)
  • 1995-96 Lyman Spitzer (Princeton)
  • 1996-97 Igor Novikov (Theoretical Astrophysics Center, Copenhagen)
  • 1997-98 David Schramm (University of Chicago)
  • 1998-99 Mal Ruderman (Columbia University)
  • 1999-00 Bohdan Paczynski (Princeton)
  • 2000-01 Clifford Will (Washington University)
  • 2001-02 Frank Shu (UC Berkeley)
  • 2002-03 Vera Rubin (Carnegie Institution of Washington)
  • 2003-04 Charles Townes (UC Berkeley)
  • 2004-05 Geoff Marcy (UC Berkeley)
  • 2005-06 Roger Blandford (Stanford University)
  • 2006-07 Andrew Lyne (University of Manchester)
  • 2009-10 Don Brownlee (University of Washington)
  • 2010-11 Rashid Sunyaev (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)
  • 2011-12 Maria Zuber (MIT)
  • 2012-13 David Jewitt (UCLA)
  • 2013-14 J. Richard Bond (University of Toronto)
  • 2014-15 Reinhard Genzel (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics)
  • 2015-16 Simon White (Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics)
  • 2016-17 Adam Burrows (Princeton)
  • 2017-18 Renu Malhotra (U. Arizona)
  • 2018-19 Bruce Draine (Princeton)

Upcoming: 

The Salpeter Lecture Series

The Salpeter Lecture Series was established in 1998 to honor Professor Edwin E. Salpeter, one of the most important astrophysicists of the 20th century. Under the auspices of the lectureship, distinguished astronomers and astrophysicists are invited to visit Cornell for one to two weeks.

Former Salpeter Lecturers:

The Yervant Terzian Lecture Series

On the occasion of Yervant Terzian's 70th birthday, the University established the Yervant Terzian Lectureship in Astronomy to bring outstanding scientists to Cornell for brief visits. The Lectureship was endowed by a generous gift from Friend of Astronomy Charles Mund, Jr.

Former Terzian Lecturers:

The William E. and Elva F. Gordon Distinguished Lectureship

William E. Gordon, then professor of electrical engineering at Cornell, proposed the construction of the Arecibo telescope in 1958 to study the Earth's ionosphere via the incoherent scatter of powerful radio waves from the individual electrons in the ionospheric plasma. He also understood that the telescope would be able to make significant contributions to planetary science and the then relatively new field of radio astronomy. Gordon raised the funding for the telescope and organized its construction. Completed in 1963, the 305m (1000ft) diameter telescope and its powerful radar systems were continuously upgraded over the intervening years and were used to made major advances in the areas of ionospheric physics, radio astronomy and planetary science. Sadly, after fifty-seven years of ground-breaking contributions to astronomy, planetary science and ionospheric physics the telescope collapsed on December 1, 2020.

The Gordon Lectures are made possible by an endowment by Tom and Betty Talpey. Tom and Betty Talpey were one of the families that moved with the Gordon's to Arecibo in the summer of 1960 to supervise the telescope's construction and build the observing instrumentation.

Former Gordon Lecturers:

Special Events

See all events
Top