The Search for Life, with the James Webb Telescope and others.
You can book for in-person attendance at Bookwhen, where you will also find the link for Zoom viewing.
Is there life beyond planet Earth? - one of the great questions of all time. In the last twenty years we have come a long way towards answering this question. We find living organisms in extreme environments on Earth, evidence for possible habitats in unexpected places in our solar system, and nearly 6000 planets orbiting other stars. By careful observation we know something about the physical properties of these planets, whether they are dense and rocky like our Earth or gas giants like Jupiter. The James Webb Telescope is opening a new dimension of research as it enables us to detect molecules in the atmosphere of some of these planets. This talk will bring us up to date with the latest findings.
Dr. Robin Catchpole, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge
Robin Michael Catchpole works as an astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, having retired as Senior Astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich in July 2004.
Joined the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) from Bryanston School in 1962. After obtaining a BSc at University College London, he was posted to the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope, S Africa (now known as the South African Astronomical Observatory) and spent the next 24 years, working first at the Radcliffe Observatory in Pretoria and then at the SAAO in Cape Town.
Obtained his doctorate at the University of Cape Town on The Properties of the SC Stars and the Chemical Composition of UY Cen, under the supervision of Prof. Brian Warner. In 1991 he returned to the RGO in Cambridge, until it closed in 1998, when he moved to Greenwich as Senior Astronomer.
In 1981 Robin married the sculptor, the late Gill Wiles (1940 - 2014). He currently lives just outside Cambridge, UK.
He has authored and co-authored over 120 research papers and articles and used a number of telescopes around the world including the Hubble Space Telescope. Research interests include the composition of stars, exploding stars, the structure of our Galaxy and galaxies with black holes at their centres. His current research interest is in the structure of the Bulge of our Milky Way Galaxy, as shown by Mira variables.
Attending lectures
The lecture will be preceded by a short presentation from a CSAR PhD Award Winner.
Flow with the know: Can we digitally decode fluid concrete?
Dr Callum White., Previously: Research Student, University of Cambridge. Now: Senior Advisor – Construction and Maintenance, National Highways
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