Lectures & Colloquia
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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 4-5 pm in room 105 of the Space Sciences Building and are preceded at 3:30 pm by tea, coffee, and cookies. The public is welcome.
| Date | Topic | Speaker | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 31, 2019 | "Exploring the Evolution of the Universe with the CCAT-prime" | Terry Herter, Cornell University | |
| February 7, 2019 | "Galaxy Evolution using Lots of Resolved Galaxies" | Karen Masters, Haverford College | |
| February 14, 2019 | "Intensity Mapping to Probe the Intestellar Medium" | Anthony Pullen - NYU | |
| February 21, 2019 | “Detecting and Characterizing Nearby Habitable Worlds” | René Doyon, University of Montreal, CA | |
| February 28, 2019 | "As Worlds Turn: Planetary Spin, Climate, and Life" | Caleb Scharf, Columbia University | |
| March 7, 2019 | "The Importance of Brown Dwarfs" | Jacqueline Faherty - American Museum of Natural History | |
| March 14, 2019 | "Ensuring Inclusivity: How Diversity is Like Quantum Mechanics" | Julie Rathbun, Planetary Science Institute | |
| March 21, 2019 | "TBA" | Salpeter Lecture: Ruth Murray-Clay | |
| March 28, 2019 | "TBA" | Kevin Lewis - Johns Hopkins University | |
| April 11, 2019 | "TBA" | Elisa Quintana - NASA | |
| April 18, 2019 | "A Good Hard Look at Cosmic Supermassive Black Hole Growth" | Niel Brandt, Penn State University | |
| April 25, 2019 | "Polarization by Interstellar Dust -- What Does it Tell Us?" | Gold Lecture: Bruce Draine, Princeton | |
| May 2, 2019 | "TBA" | Gordon Lecture: Amelie Saintonge |
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 12:30 pm in Space Sciences room 622. Lunch and refreshments are not provided.
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| February 18, 2019 | TBA | |
| February 25, 2019 | TBA | |
| March 4, 2019 | Alessondra Springmann (Lunar & Planetary Laboratory) | |
| March 11, 2019 | Leslie Hebb (Hobart and William Smith Colleges) | |
| March 25, 2019 | Io’s Loki Volcano from ground-based and spacecraft data | Julie Rathbun (Planetary Science Institute) |
| April 1, 2019 | TBA | |
| April 8, 2019 | TBA | |
| April 15, 2019 | TBA | |
| April 22, 2019 | TBA | |
| April 29, 2019 | Star-Terrestrial Planet Interaction in Our Solar System and Beyond: Magnetic Fields, Atmospheric Loss, and Prebiotic Chemistry | Dr Chuanfei Dong (Princeton) |
| May 6, 2019 | Enceladus: coupled thermal and dynamic evolution | Dr. Jing Luan (Institute for Advanced Study) |
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 in Space Sciences 622.
Bring your own lunch.
| Date | Topic | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| February 6, 2019 | "GRMHD Simulations of Precessing Tilted Accretion Disks" and "On the Inverse Spectrum Problem of Neutron Stars" | Cristobal Armaza and Gabe Bonilla |
| February 13, 2019 | TBA | Soumyajit Bose and Dante Iozzo |
| February 20, 2019 | Why is it difficult to observe electric current in cosmic plasma? | Michael Clarage (Ronin Institue) |
| February 27, 2019 | TBA | Daniel Siegel (Columbia |
| March 6, 2019 | TBA | Jing Luan (IAS) |
| March 13, 2019 | TBA | Daniel Vieira and Eamonn O'Shea |
| March 20, 2019 | TBA | Peter Rau and Laurent Boulet |
| March 27, 2019 | Stellar Coalescence at the Onset of Common Envelope Phases | Morgan MacLeod (Harvard) |
| April 10, 2019 | Prophets of Doom and the Doom of Prophecy: Planetesimal Dynamics in the Outer Solar System | Bill Newman (Institute for Advance Studies) |
| April 17, 2019 | TBA | Matteo Cantiello (Flatiron CCA) |
| April 24, 2019 | TBA | Georgios Valogiannis and Victoria Calafut |
| May 1, 2019 | TBA | Jason Stevens and Eve Vavagiakis |
Galaxy Lunch
The Galaxy Lunch Series is held every Tuesday during the academic year, at 12:15pm, in Space Sciences room 622. In general, there will be an hour-long talk/discussion on topics 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, so talks should be at a level accessible to most. 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.
Bring your own lunch.
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) - scheduled for April 2019
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) (scheduled for Oct 2018)
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 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 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) - scheduled for Oct 2018