Events
Colloquia
- Attendees who are not current Cornell employees or students must bring photo ID and provide one of the following when arriving at an event:
- proof of being fully vaccinated for COVID-19 with an FDA- or WHO-authorized vaccine (Excelsior Pass encouraged, but photo, screenshot or copy of vaccination card are acceptable);
- results of a negative FDA- or DOH-authorized PCR, rapid PCR, or nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) COVID-19 test collected within 72 hours of the event start; or
- an FDA-authorized antigen test performed on a specimen collected within six hours of the event start.
- Cornell students, staff and faculty are required to present a Cornell ID upon arrival. And for those who are not fully vaccinated, completion of the Daily Check on the day of attendance is required.
- MASKS ARE REQUIRED.
- While Cornell is in COVID-19 Alert Level Green, food/beverages are allowed in Room 105; masks will still be required when not eating or drinking.
- Please note: Requirements could change if we are directed to make changes by federal, state, local or university authorities.
Date | Topic | Speaker | |||
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01/27/2022 | "Giant Planet Ionospheres: visible links between their atmospheres and magnetospheres." (ZOOM COLLOQUIUM ONLY) | Thomas Stallard, University of Leicester | |||
02/03/2022 | "Cutting-Edge Astrophysics with Pulsar Timing Arrays: Where We Are and Where We’re Going" (ZOOM COLLOQUIUM ONLY) | Thankful Cromartie, Cornell University | |||
02/10/2022 | "Frontiers of multi-messenger astrophysics with pulsar timing arrays" | Maria Charisi, Vanderbilt University | |||
02/17/2022 | "Fast Transients: A (Fleeting) Window on the Final Stages of Stellar Evolution and the Formation of Compact Objects" | Anna Ho, UC Berkeley | |||
02/24/2022 | "Cosmic Extremes: Time-Domain Astrophysics in a Multi-Messenger World" | Kate Alexander, Northwestern University | |||
03/03/2022 | "New Frontiers in Relativistic Astrophysics: Harnessing Multi-Messenger and Time-domain Astronomy" | Ben Margalit, UC Berkeley | |||
03/10/2022 | "Astrophysics with Multiple Messengers: | Kunal Mooley, Caltech | |||
03/17/2022 | "One Spectrum, Two Numbers: The Mass-Radius | David Helfand, Columbia University | |||
03/24/2022 | "The History of Cornell Astronomy’s Diversity" | Edmund Bertschinger, MIT | |||
03/31/2022 | "If mapping on Earth is called Geospatial Services, what will it be called on Mars?" | Adam Maher, Ursa Space Systems Inc. | |||
04/14/2022 | “Real and Counterfactual Universes”, (ZOOM COLLOQUIUM ONLY) | Martin Rees,Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge | |||
04/21/2022 | TBA | Salpeter Lecture: Vicky Kalogera | |||
04/28/2022 | "Fast Radio Bursts and the Unseen Universe" | Vikram Ravi, Caltech | |||
05/05/2022 | "What do we learn from black hole images?" | Charles Gammie, University of Illinois |
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:
1) In person attendance is restricted to Cornell students, staff and faculty. Completion of the Daily Check prior to attendance is required of those who are not vaccinated.
2) While Cornell is in Covid-19 Alert Level Green, food will be allowed in room 622; masks required when not eating/drinking.
3) Hybrid participation: zoom and in person (Rm 622).
Date | Topic | Speaker |
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Jan 31, 2022 | | |
Feb 7, 2022 | | |
Feb 14, 2022 | ||
Feb 21, 2022 | ||
Feb 28, 2022 | TBD | Christian Tate & Madeline Pettine |
Mar 7, 2022 | ||
Mar 14, 2022 | ||
Mar 21, 2022 | ||
Mar 28, 2022 | "Hydrogen Atmosphere as an Indicator of Second-generation Rocky White Dwarf Exoplanets" | Zifan Lin (Harvard) |
Apr 11, 2022 | ||
Apr 18, 2022 | "On Error Estimates for Hapke Photometric Model Parameters for Disk-Integrated Phase Curves of Airless Planetary Bodies" | Dr. Paul Helfenstein |
Apr 25, 2022 | "Measuring ghosts on Mars: Compiling CO2 ice stratigraphy near the south pole of Mars" | Dr. Peter Thomas |
May 2, 2022 | Ngoc Truong | |
May 9, 2022 | ||
May 16, 2022 | ||
May 23, 2022 | ||
May 30, 2022 | ||
Jun 6, 2022 |
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.
NOTE:
1) In person attendance is restricted to Cornell students, staff and faculty. Completion of the Daily Check prior to attendance is required of those who are not vaccinated.
2) While Cornell is in Covid-19 Alert Level Green, food will be allowed in room 622; masks required when not eating/drinking.
3) Hybrid participation: zoom and in person (Rm 622)
Please contact Larry Kidder (kidder@astro.cornell.edu) for further information.
Date | Topic | Speaker |
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Feb 2, 2022 | Diving Deep into NANOGrav's Ever-Growing Pulsar Timing Data Set | Thankful Cromartie, Cornell University |
Feb 9, 2022 | Towards the first multi-messenger detection of a supermassive black hole binary | Maria Charisi, Vanderbilt University |
Feb 16, 2022 | Puzzles in Interpreting the Emission from Cosmic Explosions | Anna Ho, UC Berkeley |
Feb 23, 2022 | Lights in the darkness: Using tidal disruption events to | Kate Alexander, Northwestern University |
Mar 2, 2022 | The “Explosion” of Transients across the Electromagnetic Spectrum | Ben Margalit, UC Berkeley |
Mar 9, 2022 | A Radio Polarization Experiment to Find Pulsars | Kunal Mooley, Caltech |
Mar 16, 2022 |
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Mar 23, 2022 | ||
Mar 30, 2022 |
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Apr 6, 2022 | SPRING BREAK - no lecture | |
Apr 13, 2022 |
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Apr 20, 2022 | "Next-Generation Modeling for Binaries and More" | Dr. Vicky Kalogera, Northwestern University |
Apr 27, 2022 | ||
May 4, 2022 |
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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:
1) In person attendance is restricted to Cornell students, staff and faculty. Completion of the Daily Check prior to attendance is required of those who are not vaccinated.
2) While Cornell is in Covid-19 Alert Level Green, food will be allowed in room 622; masks required when not eating/drinking.
3) Hybrid participation: zoom and in person (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.
Date | Topic | Speaker |
---|---|---|
Jan 25, 2022 |
Welcome/Introduction/Theme/ |
Thomas Nikola |
Feb 1, 2022 | FYST/Prime-Cam | Gordon Stacey |
Feb 8, 2022 | Prime-Cam/FYST: Discussing the Science Goal: "Tracing Galaxy Evolution from the First Billion Years to Cosmic Noon" |
Thomas Nikola |
Feb 15, 2022 |
"The Cold ISM in the Local Universe" |
Catie Ball |
Feb 22, 2022 | "Measuring CMB foregrounds with Prime-Cam on FYST to aid the search for primordial gravitational waves" |
Steve Choi |
Mar 1, 2022 | FEBRUARY BREAK - no lecture | |
Mar 8, 2022 | "Present and future constraints with the tSZ and pairwise kSZ effects" |
Eve Vavagiakis |
Mar 15, 2022 | "CGM Review" | Bo Peng |
Mar 22, 2022 | CANCELED | |
Mar 29, 2022 | TBA | Christopher Rooney |
Apr 5, 2022 | SPRING BREAK - no lecture | |
Apr 12, 2022 | "Just in time for JWST: the Infrared Database of Extragalactic Observables from Spitzer" |
Henrik Spoon |
Apr 19, 2022 | ||
Apr 26, 2022 | TBA | Dr. Borris Bolliet (Columbia) |
May 3, 2022 |
TBA |
Patrick Kamieneski (UMass) |
May 10, 2022 | "CCAT-prime/FYST science goal: Reionization, structure growth, and galaxy emergence through line intensity mapping" |
Rodrigo Freundt Rueda |
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
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:
- 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)