PUBLIC LECTURE
Black Holes, Galaxies and the Evolution of the Universe: An Observer's View
Claudia Megan Urry
Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Yale University
Wednesday, December 3, 2014 · 4:00-5:00 PM
ECJ 1.202 [map]
abstract
Black holes form in the young Universe and, over the next 13 billion years or so, accrete enormous amounts of matter from the surrounding galaxy. By the present time, a black hole and its host galaxy have grown in mass by factors of a million or more, roughly in lockstep. In this talk, I will first give several alternative descriptions of what a black hole is, then explain how recent multiwavelength surveys have allowed us to take a census of black hole growth across cosmic time. I conclude with the big picture: the evolution of the universe over the last 13 billion years, as indicated by computer simulations, and future prospects for observing black hole growth and mergers across the cosmos.
About Dr. Urry
Dr. Claudia Megan Urry is the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University, the Director of the Yale Center of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and the President of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). During her visit to UT, she is receiving the prestigious Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Memorial Lectureship and Medal awarded by the UT Astronomy Department for outstanding scientific achievement. Dr Urry has published over 200 refereed research articles on supermassive black holes and authored over 30 book chapters and invited review papers. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and American Women in Science. Dr. Urry has played key roles on science policy committees, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Public Policy Committee of both the American Physical Society and the AAS. She is a strong advocate for broader participation of women in science and a frequent contributor to CNN, the New York Times and other media outlets.
Prof. C. Megan Urry