What's the biggest mystery left in astronomy?
The expansion of the universe. You would expect that because of the gravity between galaxies, that it goes slower and slower. . . . It now turns out that rather than decelerating, it is accelerating. There is a repulsive force at work. This thing is 10 to the 120th power smaller than Einstein would have wanted. We just don't know what it is. It's called dark energy.
Showing posts with label kavli prize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kavli prize. Show all posts
Sunday, June 1, 2008
LA Times Interviews Maarten Schmidt
The Los Angeles Times has an interview with Kavli Prize winner Maarten Schmidt about the research for which he won the prize, his current research, his background, and his beliefs. It's really very interesting. One example is below.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Kavli Prizes Awarded
The Kavli Prizes were awarded today by the Kavli Foundation, and as promised, here are the winners:
The Kavli Prize for Astrophysics was awarded jointly to Maarten Schmidt, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and Donald Lynden-Bell, of Cambridge University, UK, for their work on Quasars. During the 1960s Schmidt analysed the visible light spectra of quasars and used the results to explain just how distant these extraordinarily bright galaxies are, while Lynden-Bell demonstrated how they were powered by the collapse of material into massive black holes.
The Kavli Prize for Nanoscience was awarded jointly to Louis E. Brus, of Columbia University, US, and Sumio Iijima, of Meijo University in Japan for their respective discoveries of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, and carbon nanotubes. Major advances being predicted in fields as diverse as electronics, the environment, energy and biomedicine would not have been possible without Brus and Iijima’s contributions in explaining the unusual properties of particles so small that electron motion is confined to zero or one dimension.
The Kavli Prize for Neuroscience was awarded jointly to Pasko Rakic, of the Yale University School of Medicine, Thomas Jessell, of Columbia University, and Sten Grillner, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden for work that helped decipher the basic mechanisms that govern the development and functioning of the networks of cells in the brain and spinal cord.
In addition to a scroll and a medal for each recipient, the award recipients for each of the three areas will split a $1 million prize.
The Kavli Prize for Astrophysics was awarded jointly to Maarten Schmidt, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and Donald Lynden-Bell, of Cambridge University, UK, for their work on Quasars. During the 1960s Schmidt analysed the visible light spectra of quasars and used the results to explain just how distant these extraordinarily bright galaxies are, while Lynden-Bell demonstrated how they were powered by the collapse of material into massive black holes.
The Kavli Prize for Nanoscience was awarded jointly to Louis E. Brus, of Columbia University, US, and Sumio Iijima, of Meijo University in Japan for their respective discoveries of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, also known as quantum dots, and carbon nanotubes. Major advances being predicted in fields as diverse as electronics, the environment, energy and biomedicine would not have been possible without Brus and Iijima’s contributions in explaining the unusual properties of particles so small that electron motion is confined to zero or one dimension.
The Kavli Prize for Neuroscience was awarded jointly to Pasko Rakic, of the Yale University School of Medicine, Thomas Jessell, of Columbia University, and Sten Grillner, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden for work that helped decipher the basic mechanisms that govern the development and functioning of the networks of cells in the brain and spinal cord.
In addition to a scroll and a medal for each recipient, the award recipients for each of the three areas will split a $1 million prize.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Kavli Prizes to Be Awarded Tomorrow
Fred Kavli hopes to leave behind a legacy that will have a positive impact on humanity for centuries. And he's doing it the same way as Alfred Nobel. No, not by making better explosives (although Kavli did get his start developing technology for the military). Kavli is dedicating his fortune to the advancement of science through the formation of Kavli Institutes for science, and the Kavli Prizes, a set of very focused scientific prizes in the amount of $1 million for advances in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience.
The prizes are awarded by the Kavli Foundation, and the first awardings of these prizes will be announced tomorrow morning in Oslo, Norway. Kavli's goal is to promote scientific research that will benefit mankind not in a few years but in a hundred years. The funds provided by the foundation are for basic research in the three target areas, not for quick results.
Check back tomorrow for information about the Kavli Prize winners.
The prizes are awarded by the Kavli Foundation, and the first awardings of these prizes will be announced tomorrow morning in Oslo, Norway. Kavli's goal is to promote scientific research that will benefit mankind not in a few years but in a hundred years. The funds provided by the foundation are for basic research in the three target areas, not for quick results.
Check back tomorrow for information about the Kavli Prize winners.
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