Popular Science Lecture - 46

Unraveling the universe with James Webb Space Telescope


Venue: Webinar zoom &
Live on YouTube

February 06, 2022
04:00 pm - 06:00 pm

Organised by Tamil Nadu Science Forum

About Program







This is part of its efforts to popularize science to the general public and students who are pursuing science as their career. TNSF attempt to focus on students on higher science as everyone knows that learning of science at college within the curriculum is not enough to acquire holistic knowledge of science at the appropriate time. Hence, to fill the gap between what students are acquiring through the curriculum and what it is required, TNSF is planning its activities on higher science to students who are pursuing higher education.



Abstract
Humankind has long gazed at the stars in search of answers. Where did we come from? What are humans in the grand scheme of things? Over time, our tools became more sophisticated - with telescopes and cameras that are millions of times more sensitive than our eyes. With these new tools, we could study things that are fainter and further away, with more detail that one can imagine. We discovered how the universe was born, how stars and planets formed. And yet each answer raises more questions, and the quest continues. Our latest ally in this journey is the James Webb Space Telescope - a technological marvel that will allow us to study things ranging from the most distant galaxies born soon after the big bang, to signs of life on planets around other stars. What makes this telescope unique? Why was it folded up at launch? Why are its mirrors golden hexagons? Why does it have to be so far from Earth? Join us to talk about this extraordinary machine, how it works, and what secrets of the universe it may unravel for us.

விடைகளைத்தேடி மனிதகுலம் காலகாலமாக நட்சத்திரங்களைப் பார்த்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது. எங்கிருந்து வந்தோம், நாம்? இப்பிரமாண்டமான திட்டத்தில் மனிதர்களின் நிலை என்ன?

SCHEDULE

Time: 04:00 pm to 6:00 pm - February 06, 2022

Virtual meeting starts at 03:45 pm

04:00 pm - 04:15 pm

Introduction

04:16 pm - 05:00 pm

Dr. Varun Bhalerao
Associate Professor, Department of Physics
IIT Bombay

Unraveling the universe with James Webb Space Telescope

05:01 pm - 05:30 pm

Q & A

Speaker

Dr. Varun Bhalerao

Dr. Varun Bhalerao

Dr. Varun Bhalerao is an astrophysicist at IIT Bombay. He obtained a B. Tech. in Electrical Engineering at IIT Bombay, followed by a Ph.D. from Caltech in 2012. During his thesis, he worked on NuSTAR - the first focussing hard X-ray telescope - a Caltech / JPL / NASA mission. He also studied High Mass X-ray Binaries with optical and infrared telescopes to measure neutron star masses. As a Vaidya-Raichaudhury Prize Postdoctoral Fellow at IUCAA, Pune, he led the ground calibration of the Cadmium Zinc Telluride Imager on AstroSat - the Indian multi-wavelength space telescope. At IIT Bombay, his group works on the development of GROWTH-India - India's first fully robotic telescope. The group leads the Indian effort in the study of elusive electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources.
Varun Bhalerao is a recipient of the Vainu Bappu gold medal - the highest honour given by the Astronomical Society of India. He is also an associate of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and recipient of the DST INSPIRE faculty fellowship. He has been awarded the IIT Bombay Early Research Achiever Award (2019) and the Krithi Ramamritham Award for creative engineering (2019).

Venue

Webinar
Zoom

Call

+91 9176512565

Email us

tamilnadutnsfchennai@gmail.com