From http://www.ast.uct.ac.za/:
PUBLIC TALKS BY EMINENT ASTRONOMER AND COSMOLOGIST, PROFESSOR MALCOLM LONGAIR During February 2009 eminent astronomer and cosmologist, Professor Malcolm Longair from Cambridge University, is visiting Cape Town, South Africa, to a participate in a series of meetings about the Square Kilometre Array project. While in Cape Town, Professor Longair will present the following two public talks: Black Holes Made Simple 1. Monday 23 February, 18:30 for 19:00 MTN ScienCentre, Canal Walk Mall, Cape Town Black holes are part of the furniture of modern astronomy. They represent the ultimate state of collapse of matter and are the source of many of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. In this lecture, it will be shown how they arise quite naturally in the course of the evolution of stars and galaxies. The most recent data will be presented on black holes in our Galaxy and in active galaxies. These give rise to some extraordinary phenomena, such as jets of relativistic matter which are expelled into intergalactic space. The role of black hole in the evolution of galaxies will be described. The talk will be delivered at a non-technical level and will be profusely illustrated with images from many different types of telescope, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the radio Very Large Array, the Chandra and XMM- Newton Telescopes. In addition, there will be interactive demonstrations and illustrative movies." Hot News from the Big Bang: Why Inflation is a Good Thing 2. Tuesday 24 February 2009, 13:00 – 14:00 New Science Lecture Theatre (NSLT), Zoology Building, UCT Upper Campus For the first time in the history of cosmology, there is general agreement concerning the values of cosmological parameters. This turns out to be a rather strange set of values and they raise a number of questions for fundamental physics. In this lecture, the most recent evidence on the values of the cosmological parameters will be summarised and potential solutions to fundamental problems discussed. It will be argued that the inflationary model of the early Universe is surprisingly successful in accounting for many of the large scale features of the Universe. It will be demonstrated how many of the most important results can be derived from simple physical arguments. The lecture will be delivered at a non-technical level and will include many spectacular images, animations and simulations." Information about Professor Longair’s research interests, as well as images, can be accessed at: www.phy.cam.ac.uk/people/longairm.php (Click on his photo for a high-res download)
, Cape Town!