Western Australian Branch
The De Laeter Youth Lecture is organized annually by the WA Branch of the Australian Institute of Physics. It is named in honour Emeritus Professor John De Laeter, of Curtin University. Not only is Professor De Laeter one of Western Australia's most noted scientists, but he has also had an enormous impact on education is Western Australia. A minor planet has been named after Professor De Laeter in recognition of his research in astrophysics and, in 1992, was awarded the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his contributions to science, education and industry. He received a Eureka Prize in 2005, and a Clunies Ross Science and Technology Award in 2006.
The 2007 De Laeter Youth Lecture will be delivered by Professor Peter Quinn, Premier's Fellow in Astronomy and Astrophysics, from the School of Physics at UWA. Professor Quinn was born in Australia and received his PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the Australian National University in 1982. He undertook postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology and the Space Telescope Science Institute before returning to ANU in 1989 to lead the Australian involvement in the MACHO Dark Matter Search Project. In 1995, Professor Quinn accepted a position as Division Head of the newly formed Data Management and Operations Division at the European Southern Observatory headquarters in Munich, where his work led to the award of a Computerworld 21st Century Achievement Award for Science in 2005. Professor Quinn was awarded a Western Australian Premier's Fellowship in December 2005 and took up the position of Professor at UWA in August 2006.
Places are limited, so please RSVP to Ian McArthur, or phone 6488 2737.
Details of Professor Quinn's talk are given below.
First Light: An overview of modern astronomy and our quest to find the dawn of creation.
"Astronomy is the oldest scientific endeavour of mankind. The pattern and regular motions of the Sun, Moon, stars and other planets have guided our agriculture, our religions, our technological development and our journeys of discovery since before recorded history. Over the past 400 years, the invention and the development of telescopes has allowed us to step outside our own solar system to begin a new voyage of discovery, back in time, to the birth of the cosmos. On the journey so far, we have found a treasure trove of objects and phenomena from star destroying black holes, to whole galaxies in the process of collision, to new planets like our own Earth. We are now nearing a period in our cosmic time travel that will contain one of the Universe’s most profound events –the first light from the first star – the “dawn of creation”. This event will be found and studied by a new telescope which, when completed in 2020, will be the world’s largest astronomical facility. The telescope is called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and Western Australia is currently the front-runner in an international competition to host the SKA. The remote desert of WA, home to Aboriginal peoples who are arguably the world’s first astronomers, may provide mankind with its clearest view of the first objects created – the seeds of the Universe we see around us today."
"In my talk, I will give a broad overview of our cosmic journey back in time – what we have found so far, what mysteries we have uncovered and what we hope to find with the new generation of telescopes we are about to build."
