RCIS/RASC Lecture: Science at the South Pole

The quest for ever-clearer views of the sky has driven astronomers to put telescopes in some pretty remote places, ranging from arid deserts, to the tops of mountains, and even the middle of Antarctica. Professor Keith Vanderlinde talks about his work with the 10m South Pole Telescope, and the science that convinced him to undertake an eleven-month “winterover” position working on-location with the telescope.

Keith Vanderlinde
Dr. Vanderlinde studies the nature and evolution of large-scale structure in the Universe, as well as the evolution of the cosmos itself. Studying large-scale structure requires specialized instruments and Vanderlinde is a member of collaborations using and developing ones that are unique. One such instrument is the South Pole Telescope (SPT). The SPT surveys the sky at microwave frequencies to reveal the Cosmic Microwave Background—a snapshot of the Universe less than 400,000 years after the Big Bang. Vanderlinde is also a member of a cross-Canada collaboration building an innovative, digital radio telescope near Penticton, B.C. The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, or CHIME, is a radio array that will create a three-dimensional map of the largest volume of the Universe ever. CHIME will also be an excellent detector of radio pulsars and the newly recognized phenomenon of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Construction is expected to be completed in 2016. The group includes the Dunlap Institute, CITA, UBC, McGill University and the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory. Vanderlinde is also a member of a team using the Algonquin Radio Observatory in northern Ontario and the Giant Metre-wave Radio Telescope in India to make ultra-high resolution observations of pulsars, using pockets in interstellar gas as billion-kilometre-wide lenses. Vanderlinde received his PhD from the University of Chicago and joined the Dunlap Institute in 2013. He is also a 2014 TEDxToronto fellow.

Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Tickets: Eventbrite
Organized by: The Royal Canadian Institute for Science and RASC - Mississauga Centre
Location: Noel Ryan Auditorium, Ground Floor, Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road W. Parking under the library is free after 6 p.m. Enter via the ramp accessed from the southbound lane on Duke of York Boulevard between City Centre Drive and Burnhamthorpe Road.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/science-at-the-south-pole-tickets-37741324317
http://rciscience.ca/lectures/fall-2017-rciscience-talks/