A free public lecture titled "Capturing the Birth Cries of Black Holes" will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday Feb. 14, in 100 Thomas Building on the Penn State University Park campus. The event is the fourth of six consecutive Saturday lectures in a free public minicourse, the 2015 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science. The overall theme of the 2015 lecture series is "100 Years After Einstein's Greatest Discovery: New Science from General Relativity." No registration is required.
The speaker for this lecture is John Nousek, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, director of Penn State's Mission Operations Center, and principal investigator at Penn State for NASA's Swift satellite. Penn State controls the science and flight operations of the Swift observatory, which is the only satellite that can precisely locate gamma-ray bursts -- the birth cries of newborn black holes and the most-powerful explosions in the universe. These massive explosions were predicted by Einstein long before they could be detected by science instruments in space. Nousek will describe Penn State's role in designing, building, and controlling NASA's Swift observatory, which is recognized as one of the most versatile astrophysics satellites ever flown.
Nousek is advancing high-energy astronomy through his contributions to the development of hardware and software for X-ray detectors and to their use in making discoveries about objects and events throughout the universe that emit extremely high energies. Nousek leads the development, testing, and operation of the X-ray, ultraviolet, and optical detectors on Swift that have discovered thousands of astrophysical sources, including gamma-ray bursts. He is in charge of the Mission Operations Center, located at Penn State, which has operated the satellite continuously since its launch in November, 2004.
Nousek also is the lead investigator for the CCD Imaging Spectrometer on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. He serves on the Astrophysics Subcommittee, which advises the NASA Astrophysics Division Chief, and he chairs the Physics of the Cosmos Program Analysis Group, which solicits community input for NASA's future missions.
In addition to his involvement in X-ray science, Nousek is also interested in the problems associated with the electronic distribution of astronomical data and results. He served a three-year term as a member of the Publications Board of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), and chaired a subcommittee on classification and information retrieval for the American Institute of Physics. He also served a three-year term on the Executive Committee of the High-Energy Astrophysics Division of the AAS. He also sits on NASA's Astrophysics Subcommittee, advising the NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate.
He has been honored for his research achievements, along with other members of the Swift team, with a series of awards including the Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award in 2009, the Rossi Prize in 2007, and NASA Group Achievement Awards in 2007, 2004, 2000, and 1999. He also received a NASA Group Achievement Award in 1981 for his contributions to NASA's High Energy Astronomy Observatory 1 (HEAO-1), the first of NASA's high-energy astronomy observatories. In addition, Nousek was honored with election to serve from 2011 to 2015 as a member of the Penn State Faculty Senate.
He earned a bachelor's degree in physics, cum laude, at Harvard University in 1972 and a doctoral degree in physics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1978.
The remaining lectures in the 2015 Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science include "Using Relativity to Discover Planets" by Jason Wright of Penn State on Feb. 21, and "Pushing Science Beyond Einstein" by Eugenio Bianchi of Penn State on Feb. 28.
The Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science is a program of the Penn State Eberly College of Science that is designed for the enjoyment and education of residents of the Central Pennsylvania area and beyond. Financial support for the 2015 lectures is provided by the Eberly College of Science and by its Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos. For more information or access assistance, contact the Eberly College of Science Office of Media Relations and Public Information by phone at 814-863-8453 or by email atjms1140@psu.edu. More information about the Penn State Lectures on the Frontiers of Science, including archived recordings of previous lectures, is online at science.psu.edu/Frontiers.