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The Grubb Parsons Lecture Series (sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society)

This lecture series is sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society

https://www.ras.org.uk/

 

Lectures since 2010

2023: Prof Heino Falcke

The Event Horizon Telescope - Imaging Black Holes

2017/18: Prof Philip Diamond

The Square Kilometre Array: Probing the Universe from the Dawn of Time to the Origins of Life

2016: Prof Bernard Schutz

The lecture was titled The Awesome Birth of Gravitational Wave Astronomy
Image of Professor Bernard Schutlz

2015: Prof Mark McCaughrean

Titled 'To Catch a Comet!', this lecture described the scientific motivation for the Rosetta mission, history, and the discoveries of the last year
Image of Prof Mark McCaughrean holding a model of the Rosetta probe

2014: Prof Jo Dunkley

Professor Jo Dunkley gave the 2014 Grubb Parsons lecture entitled 'Ripples from the Big Bang'.
Image of Prof Jo Dunkley in a library full of books

2013: Prof Isobel Hook

The lecture was called “The European Extremely Large Telescope: A new giant for the next decade and beyond"
Image of Prof Isobel Hook

2012: Prof Matt Griffin

The Herschel Space Observatory: Exploring the Origins of Stars and Galaxies

2011: Dr Jill Tarter

Called "Are we alone?", the lecture explored the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and the prospects of finding it in the next few decades.

Lectures 2000 - 2009

Sponsored by the RAS

2006 - 2009

2009: Prof. Rob Kennicutt

The lecture highlighted what has been learned from infrared observations, and previewed anticipated results from the Herschel Space Observatory.

2007/08: Prof. Ewine F. van Dishoeck

Building Planets and the Ingredients of Life between the Stars

2006/07: Prof. John Zarnecki

This lecture, titled Touchdown on Titan, dealt with the voyage of the European Space Agency's Huygens probe which landed on Saturn's largest moon.

2003 - 2005

2005/06: Professor Reinhard Genzel

Lecture entitled 'Massive Black Holes'

2004/05: Prof. George Efstathiou

This lecture covered recent advances in our understanding of the geometry of the Universe and their implications for the eventual fate of it.
Year Name of Speaker Institution at time of lecture Title of the lecture
2003 Alexandre Martynov and Alexandre Alexandrov Energia Rocket Space Corporation Life in Space
2002 Professor Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith FRS Oxford University Towards a Theory of Everything? Quarks, Higgs Bosons and All That
2002 Professor Sir Martin Rees Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge The Beginning and End of the Universe
2000 Professor Tim de Zeeuw University of Leiden Giant Black Holes and Cosmic Collisions

Lectures 1989 - 1999

Year Name of Speaker Institution at time of lecture Title of the lecture
1999 Professor Richard Ellis Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge World Without End: New Data on the Cosmic Expansion
1997 Professor Jerry Nelson University of California, Santa Cruz Giant Telescopes for the Millennium
1996 Professor Simon White Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik Cosmic Architecture: How the Universe was built
1995 Dr Alan Dressler Observatories of the Carnegie Institute, Washington Galaxy evolution: A journey through space and time
1994 Professor Alvio Renzini University of Bologna The Chronology of Stars and Galaxies
1993 Dr Vera Rubin Observatories of the Carnegie Institute, Washington Bright Galaxies and Dark Matter
1992 Professor Allan Sandage Observatories of the Carnegie Institute, Washington Giant Telescopes and the Search for the Curvature of space
1991 Professor Joachim Trümper Max Planck Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik ROSAT: A new look at the X-ray Sky
1990 Professor Robert Kirshner Harvard University Exploding stars and the size of the Universe
1989 Professor Roger Angel Steward Observatory, University of Arizona The Revolution in Making Giant Telescopes