Events

Colloquia

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 seminar is every Monday during the term at 12:20 pm in Rm 622.  To view via Zoom, please email Ngoc Truong (tnt45@cornell.edu) for the link.  NOTE:  DUE TO COVID REGULATIONS, THERE WILL BE NO FOOD ALLOWED FOR IN-PERSON PARTICIPANTS IN RM 622.

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 via Zoom.

Please contact Larry Kidder (kidder@astro.cornell.edu) for further information.

Galaxy Lunch

The Galaxy Lunch Series is held every Tuesday during the academic year, from 12:00 to 13:00 (new time) in Room 622 SSB and via zoom.  Please email Jill Tarbell (jtm14@cornell.edu) for zoom link. NOTE:  DUE TO COVID REGULATIONS, THERE WILL BE NO FOOD ALLOWED FOR IN-PERSON PARTICIPANTS IN RM 622.

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.

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)

• 2021-22  Scott Tremaine (U. Toronto)

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:

• 1999 Sterl Phinney (CalTech)
• 2000 Lars Bildsten (Univ. California-Berkeley)
• 2001 Dave Stevenson (CalTech)
• 2002 John Carlstrom (Univ. Chicago) 
• 2003 Shri Kulkarni (CalTech) 
• 2004 Andrea Ghez (UCLA) 
• 2005 Victoria Kaspi (McGill) 
• 2006 Avi Loeb (Harvard)
• 2007 Jonathan Lunine (Univ. of Arizona)
• 2008 Alexei Filippenko (Univ. California-Berkeley)
• 2009 Gilles Chabrier (ENS Lyon) 
• 2010 David Spergel (Princeton University)
• 2011 Sara Seager (MIT)
• 2012 Elliot Quataert (UC Berkeley)
• 2013 Eve Ostriker (Princeton)
• 2014 Adam Showman (University of Arizona)
• 2015 Daniel Eisenstein (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
• 2016 Fiona A. Harrison (California Institute of Technology)
• 2017 Alyssa Goodman (Harvard)
• 2018 Fred Rasio (Northwestern) 
• 2019 May Ruth Murray-Clay (UCSC)
• 2019 Nov Brian Metzger (Columbia University)
  
  Upcoming Lecturer:
• Vicky Kalogera (Northwestern University) - April 2022

The Yervant Terzian Lecture Series

Former Terzian Lecturers:

• 2010 Nobel Prize Winner, John C. Mather (NASA/GSFC)
• 2011 Mario Livio (Space Telescope Science Institute)
• 2012 Nobel Prize Winner, Michel Mayor (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
• 2013 Jay Pasachoff (Williams College)
• 2014 Bruce Balick (University of Washington)
• 2015 Ken Kellermann (National Radio Astronomy Observatory)
• 2016 Nobel Prize Winner, Kip Thorne (California Institute of Technology)
• 2017 Shri Kulkarni (Director Caltech Optical Observatories) (Watch Dr Kulkarni's Lecture The Restless Universe (Palomar Transient Factory)
• 2018 Silvia Torres-Peimbert (National Autonomous University of Mexico)
• 2021 Shep Doeleman (Harvard University)

Upcoming Lecturer:

• Paul Davies (Arizona State University) - Fall 2022

The William E. & 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:

• 2002  Harold Ewen (University of Massachusetts)
• 2003  Tor Hagfors (Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy)
• 2005  Gordon Pettengill (MIT)
• 2006  Jocelyn Bell Burnell (University of Oxford)
• 2008  Lewis Duncan (Rollins College)
• 2009  Shri Kulkarni (Caltech)
• 2011  Joint Lecture & Arecibo Observatory Staff Event:
             Donald Farley (Cornell University)
             Miguel Feyjoo (Engineer)
             Herbert Carlson (Utah State University)
             Carl Heiles (UC Berkeley)
             Donald B. Campbell (Cornell University)
• 2013  Lara Waldrop (Univ. Illinois Urbana-Champaign) and Jean-Luc Margot (UCLA)
• 2015  Xavier Siemens (Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
• 2018  Gregg Hallinan (Caltech)
• 2019  Amelie Saintonge (University College London)
• 2021 Maura McLaughlin (West Virginia University)