OBSERVING THE EVOLVING UNIVERSE 

Astronomy has progressed at a tremendous pace over the last 25 years, mostly
thanks to technological innovations such as electronic detectors,
large-aperture telescopes ranging up to 10-meters and more, and large
space-based observatories. These have produced fundamental discoveries that
have greatly enhanced our understanding of the origin and evolution of the
universe. In this lecture, I will describe the techniques and the
instrumentation adopted in modern astronomical observations, and review the
most important results, which include cosmology, the formation and evolution
of galaxies, the life-cycles of stars and the detection and study of
extra-solar planets.  Although I will focus on ultraviolet, optical and
infra-red observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and with large
ground-basd telescopes, such as the Keck, I will also review observations at
gamma, X-ray and radio wavelengths.

Biographical notes.

Dr. Mauro Giavalisco obtained his PhD at the University of Rome, Italy, in
1992, defending a thesis on the gravitational formation of cosmological
structures. Since 1990, however, he carried out research for his thesis at the
State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY. Subsequently, he was a
postdoctoral fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD,
and afterward a Hubble Fellow at the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, Pasadena, CA. In January 1999, he returned to the Space
Telescope Science Institute, where he joined the staff as assistant
astronomer. His scientific interests include cosmology, the formation and
evolution of galaxies and the physics of star formation. In 1995 he and his
collaborators discovered the most distant population of galaxies ever
observed, the progenitors of the present-day galaxies like the Milky Way and
Andromeda. Currently, Dr. Giavalisco is investigating the relationship between
the dark matter and the formation of the earliest galaxies and clusters. He
carries out his observations using the Hubble Space Telescope as well as
large-aperture ground-based telescopes.
 
 
 

Return to the Physics and Astronomy Seminar Home Page