John C. Mather, an American astrophysicist and cosmologist known particularly for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006, is doing a free public talk tonight at 7 p.m. in Keller Hall, according to a UNM press release.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy, in conjunction with the College of Arts and Sciences, has organized the event. The event will be hosted by Tony Hull, adjunct professor and manager of Business Development: Astronomy.
Mather will discuss the history of the universe and, in particular, the James Webb Space Telescope, the press release said.
Mather, whose work helped solidify the big bang theory of how the universe came to be, is currently a senior physicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. He will speak on what he has been learned so far and what can be expected from the JWST.
He plans to give two talks: one for the general public and one specifically for scientists and engineers interested in the JWST, he said.
“In the public talk, I will outline the history of the universe, how people learned about it, how we know the universe is expanding, why the ‘big bang theory’ is a really bad name for the expanding universe, how human beings came to exist here on planet Earth, how we will be using the James Webb Space Telescope to learn more about all this, and finally, a little thought about the future of humanity and space exploration,” Mather said.
In more technical talk, he will describe the workings of the JWST in more detail, how we are getting along with building it, and what people will be able to see with it, he said.
He wants everyone to know the public talk will not be overwhelmingly technical and is intended for everybody, scientist or not, he said.
Hull is an old friend and colleague of Mather. The two met while Hull was directing the optical fabrication of the JWST, set for launch in 2018 and considered NASA’s next Great Observatory, he said.
Mather and Hull do not merely intend to inform the general public with these talks, but also hope to glean new information and avenues, future possibilities of their work.
“I will be meeting with colleagues and exchanging ideas,” he said. “Science is a very social enterprise and I think much of its creative force comes from conversation. I hope to come away with better ideas about building future space observatories.”
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They have been discussing how to build the next one, even bigger and more powerful, capable of finding Earth-like planets around other stars, and determining whether they support life, Mather said.
Matthew Reisen is a staff reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
