Thursday, 6 September 2007

Detecting the very first light from the first star will enable us to witness the dawn of creation according to Peter Quinn, Professor of Astronomy at The University of Western Australia, who will present a fascinating insight into the most recent advances in his field at the 2007 Ian Constable Lecture next week.

This development is thanks to a new telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). WA is the front-runner in an international competition to host the SKA.

“The remote desert of WA, home to Indigenous people who are arguably the world’s first astronomers, may provide mankind with our clearest view of the first objects created – the seeds of the Universe we see around us today,” Professor Quinn said.

His lecture, First Light: An overview of modern astronomy and our quest to find the dawn of creation, will provide an evaluation of our cosmic journey back in time – what we have found so far, what mysteries we have uncovered and what we hope to find with the new generation of telescopes including SKA.

Professor Quinn, a Western Australian Premier’s Fellow, was recognized with a NASA High Performance Computing and Communications Grand Challenge Award in 1992 for his work on computational astrophysics.

In 2005 he received a Computerworld 21st Century Achievement Award for Science for his work as division head of the newly formed Data Management and Operations Division at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Munich.

The annual Ian Constable Lecture is presented by UWA’s Institute of Advanced Studies to acknowledge the contribution and achievements of Professor Constable, who became one of the youngest professors in Australia when, at age 31, he was appointed by UWA as the Lions Foundation Chair of Ophthalmology. In 1983 he established the Lions Eye Institute in Perth, the biggest eye research centre in the southern hemisphere.

The lecture will be held at 7.30pm on Monday, September 10, 2007, at UWA’s Octagon Theatre. The event is free but tickets are essential and available at the theatre box office or by phoning 6488 2440 between noon and 4.15pm Monday to Friday.

Media references

Audrey Barton (Institute of Advanced Studies) 61 8 6488 1340

Simone Hewett / Sally-Ann Jones 61 8 6488 7977
(UWA Public Affairs) 0420 790 097 / 0420 790 098

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