Alex Filippenko, Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley
Lick Observatory, right here in the Bay Area, is a vibrant research facility and a primary base for the University of California’s astronomy education and public-outreach efforts. Cutting-edge fields include stellar explosions, Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, and giant black holes. Many of the studies are long-term and time-intensive, making them difficult or not feasible to conduct with larger telescopes elsewhere. Lick is also used to develop new technology, such as laser guide star adaptive optics, producing very clear images of celestial objects. It is the only UC observatory to which students have direct access. Alex Filippenko joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1986 and is now one of the world's most highly cited astronomers, and an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences. Filippenko has coauthored about 770 papers and has been given numerous prizes for his research. In 2004, he received the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. In this talk we will hear about the frontier research currently being conducted at the Lick Observatory and the risks of losing this important research due to funding challenges at the University.
