2022
Twelve for dinner: How the Milky Way ‘ate’ smaller star clusters and galaxies
January 11, 2022
Astronomers including Asst. Prof. Alex Ji are one step closer to revealing dark matter enveloping our Milky Way galaxy, thanks to a new map of twelve streams of stars orbiting within our galactic halo. Using doppler calculations, the scientists measured the speeds of stars and their chemical compositions, telling us where they were born.
Cheng Chin receives ’21–’22 Marian and Stuart Rice Research Award
January 7, 2022
Professor Cheng Chin of the Department of Physics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, and the James Franck Institute has received the ’21–’22 Marian and Stuart Rice Research Award, a Divisional honor that provides $100,000 for intellectually exciting and innovative research ventures that enable new research directions. Professor Chin is a pioneer in using ultracold atoms to study the quantum phenomena that underlie the behavior of other particles in the universe.
Two PSD astronomers named AAS Fellows
January 5, 2022
Professor Hsiao-Wen Chen and Professor Emeritus Richard Kron in the University of Chicago Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics have been named 2022 American Astronomical Society Fellows.
Asst. Prof. Alex Ji comments on the potential of the James Webb Telescope
January 4, 2022
Asst. Prof. Alex Ji, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, comments on the potential of the massive James Webb Telescope that launched on Christmas day and will be able to peer back 13.5 billion years. The successor to Hubble, it could help answer some of humanity’s biggest questions.
In the News - December 2021
January 3, 2022
This month PSD researchers have been featured for their efforts to find extremely energetic particles from outer space with the PUEO Antarctic balloon mission, teach students how to design, build and calibrate their own devices in the creative machines class, and assemble global experts to discuss internet equity and access.
2021
James Webb Space Telescope to offer humanity an unprecedented look at universe
December 21, 2021
UChicago scientists hope launch of James Webb Space Telescope will help explore previously ‘unanswerable’ questions.
UChicago faculty receive named, distinguished service professorships
December 21, 2021
Brent Doiron has been named the first Heinrich Kluver Professor of Neurobiology, Statistics and the College. Doiron uses advanced mathematics to understand how networks of neurons process information about sensory inputs. His research focuses on a combination of nonlinear dynamics and statistical mechanics, with an emphasis on the genesis and transfer of variability in neural circuits. He has developed core theoretical insights that have contributed to both neural coding and network learning. He works closely with experimental neuroscientists who work in the electrosensory, olfactory, somatosensory, auditory and visual systems.
To find energetic particles from space, a new detector will soar over Antarctic ice
December 16, 2021
University of Chicago physicist Abby Vieregg is leading an international experiment that essentially uses the ice in Antarctica as a giant detector to find extremely energetic particles from outer space. Recently approved by NASA, the $20 million project called PUEO will build an instrument to fly above the Antarctic in a balloon, launching in December 2024.
In ‘Creative Machines’ class, students design and make instruments from scratch
December 16, 2021
A new class taught by experimental physicists Professor Emeritus Stephan Meyer and Professor Scott Wakely is teaching students how to design, build and calibrate their own devices. Called “Creative Machines and Innovative Instruments,” the class has students writing code, 3D printing their designs and learning the challenges of making something entirely new from scratch.
Parker Solar Probe touches the sun for the first time, bringing new discoveries
December 15, 2021
For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere—called the corona—sampling particles and characterizing magnetic fields in this dynamic environment. The new milestone marks one major step for the probe named for Professor Emeritus Eugene Parker—and one giant leap for solar science.
Prof. Juan de Pablo appointed Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories and Global Initiatives
December 9, 2021
Prof. Juan de Pablo has been appointed Executive Vice President for Science, Innovation, National Laboratories and Global Initiatives at the University of Chicago, effective immediately.
Board work: A photographer captures the beauty of mathematicians’ chalk experiments
December 9, 2021
A new book by photographer Jessica Wynne called Do Not Erase: Mathematicians and Their Chalkboards (Princeton University Press, 2021) features 110 images of chalk-based investigations by mathematicians around the world—several affiliated with UChicago—alongside their reflections on blackboards as a medium.
Peering at the universe from the bottom of the Earth
December 8, 2021
Argonne scientists Lindsey Bleem, PhD’13, and Asst. Prof. Clarence Chang, Dept. of Astronomy and Astrophysics, talk about what it’s like to look for signals from the early universe onsite at Antarctica's South Pole Telescope.
MICCoM center, directed by Prof. Galli, leads to award-winning computational science
December 7, 2021
The Midwest Center for Computational Materials (MICCoM) is one of five centers in the US where scientists focus on developing software to help predict materials for energy conversion technologies and quantum information science. The team of 34 scientists, led by Professor of Chemistry Giulia Galli, has been recognized with several prestigious awards this year.
Dean Angela V. Olinto elected to Brazilian Academy of Sciences
December 6, 2021
Angela V. Olinto, Dean of the Physical Sciences and the Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, and the College, was elected as Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences by their General Assembly on December 2, 2021. She will be admitted on January 1, 2022.