UofT AstroTour: World on Fire: Glimpses of the birth of the universe
By listening to the cold, dim hiss of the universe, we can learn about its fiery beginning. Prof. Renée Hlozek's talk will focus on how cosmologists use microwave instruments to measure this birth-light. She’ll describe the telescope she uses, high up in the Atacama Desert of Chile, and what we learn about what the universe contains, how it started and ultimately how it is going to end.
About the Speaker
Renée Hlozek is an Assistant Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and faculty in the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on observational cosmology and statistical methods in cosmology; she answers questions about the structure of the universe, its initial conditions and its eventual fate using data from telescopes around the world.
In 2012, she received her DPhil in Astrophysics from Oxford University as a South African Rhodes Scholar. She spent four years at Princeton as a Lyman Spitzer Jr. fellow in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences. She was the Spitzer-Cotsen Fellow in the Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts, and she is a TED Senior fellow. She was named one of the Mail and Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans for 2012, and named one of the “Mzansi’s 100” Trailblazer South Africans in 2016.
The U of T Astronomy Public Tour, or AstroTour, is a monthly event operated by the graduate students of the U of T Astronomy Department. The Tour features a public lecture by a member of the Department on topics ranging from their research to great moments in astronomical history. Following the lecture, tour-goers can peer at the night sky through the Department’s balcony and dome telescopes, or watch a planetarium show run live by astronomer. Admission to the tour is free. Seating for the lecture is on a first-come, first-served basis (doors open ten minutes before the start of the lecture), and the telescope observing is walk-in.
Who can attend: Everyone
Fee: Free
Reservations: Only required for Planetarium Shows
Organized by: Graduate Astronomy Students Association. The AstroTours are generously financed by the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Location: University of Toronto, McLennan Physical Laboratories (MP 103), 60 St George St., Toronto, ON M5S 1A7
http://www.astro.utoronto.ca/astrotours/?page_id=392
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