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Newsletter 22 January, 2015

Newsletter 22 January, 2015

 

               You are cordially invited to         

       The John Bahcall Astrophysics Lecture

of the  

Emilio Segre Distinguished Lectures in Physics
of the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Foundation

           

               Prof. Tim de Zeeuw         
                Director General          

    European Southern Observatory  

                                                                                        

"THE  ROLE  OF   ESO  IN  ASTROPHYSICS"

 

will be held on Sunday, 25 January 2015, at 16:10,
in Auditorium Lev, Shenkar Physics Building 

 

 Abstract                                                     

ESO is an intergovernmental organization for astronomy founded in 1962 by five countries. It currently has 14 Member States in Europe with Brazil and Poland poised to join.
Together these countries represent approximately 30 percent of the world’s astronomers.
ESO operates optical/infrared observatories on La Silla and Paranal in Chile, partners in the
sub-millimetre radio observatories APEX and ALMA on Chajnantor and has started construction
of the Extremely Large Telescope on Armazones near Paranal. La Silla hosts robotic and national
telescopes as well as the NTT and the venerable 3.6m telescope. The former had a key role in the
discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe and the latter hosts the ultra-stable
spectrograph HARPS which is responsible for the discovery of many of the confirmed exoplanets
with masses below that of Neptune.  On Paranal the four 8.2m units of the Very Large Telescope,
the Interferometer and the survey telescopes VISTA and VST together constitute a unique integrated
system which supports 16 powerful facility instruments, including adaptive-optics-assisted imagers
and integral-field spectrographs, with half a dozen more on the way and the Extremely Large
Telescope with its suite of instruments to be added in about ten years' time. Scientific highlights
include the characterization of the supermassive black hole in the Galactic Centre, the first image
of an exoplanet, studies of gamma-ray bursts enabled by the Rapid Response Mode and milliarcsec
imaging of evolved stars and active galactic nuclei. The single dish APEX antenna, equipped with
spectrometers and wide-field cameras, contributes strongly to the study of high-redshift galaxies
and of star- and planet-formation. Early results obtained with ALMA demonstrate its transformational
potential for high-resolution, high-sensitivity observations of the cold Universe, near and far.  

 

  The lecture will provide an overview of ESO’s current program, with emphasis on recent increases
in observing capabilities, will consider ESO’s role in the broader context of astrophysics, and will
briefly touch on opportunities for the future.

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

First Announcement

 

Recent Advances in Spintronics, Safed May 10-14, 2015

A Joint ISF & Safed Scientific Workshop

 

Main topics: spin transfer, spintronics with oxides, emerging spintronics phenomena, spin-orbit effects, molecular and organic spintronics, spintronic devices, and other related topics.

 

Organizing committee:

Lior Klein (BIU)

Yoram Dagan (TAU)

Amos Sharoni (BIU)

Alexander Gerber (TAU)

 

Contact: Sima Sharabi <[email protected]>


_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The 16th Feofilov International Symposium 

 

On Spectroscopy of Crystals Doped with Rare Earth and Transition Metal Ions .


 St. Petersburg, Russia , 9-14 November, 2015


For further information see: http://ifs.ifmo.ru

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