Wyomissing, Pa. — The ninth annual Losoncy Lecture in Physics and Astronomy will be presented by Ruth Daly, professor of physics at Penn State Berks. Daly will present “An Overview of Black Holes in Galaxies across the Universe," via Zoom, on Friday, April 9, with a virtual reception beginning at 4 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public, but attendees must email LPG10@psu.edu to register and receive the Zoom link.
Black holes form and evolve in galaxies across the universe. The presence and properties of black holes can be probed by studying their impact on the gas, stars, and dust in their vicinity. In this presentation, Daly will discuss the current state of our knowledge of supermassive and stellar-mass black holes, their impact on the evolution of stars and galaxies, the role of black hole spin in evolution of galaxies, and new methods of determining how rapidly black holes are spinning.
Daly was recently elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), the premier physics organization in the world, representing more than 55,000 members, including physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the United States and throughout the world. Election to APS fellowship is based on outstanding contributions to the field and is limited to no more than 1/2 of 1% of the society’s membership.
Daly has been working in the fields of extragalactic astrophysics and cosmology for more than 30 years. She has published over 100 papers including more than 60 peer reviewed publications. Many of the papers included graduate and undergraduate students as co-authors. She is frequently an invited speaker at major national and international meetings and typically discusses topics related to dark matter and dark energy in the universe, and the properties of black holes.
The lecture series is named in honor of George J. Losoncy, a retired Penn State Berks employee who donated $50,000 to establish a research endowment in physics and astronomy at Penn State Berks.
For more information about this lecture or the Losoncy Lecture Series, contact Leonard Gamberg, professor of physics and event organizer, at 610-396-6124 or LPG10@psu.edu.