Faculty

President Obama Honors Federally-Funded Early-Career Scientists

President Obama Honors Federally-Funded Early-Career Scientists

January 9, 2017

In recognition of his work in advancing the most sensitive measurements of polarization of the cosmic microwave background, the faint fossil radiation from the Big Bang, Professor John Kovac was selected by President Obama as one of 102 scientists and researchers as a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on...

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The American Astronomical Society has selected Professor Charlie Conroy to receive the Helen. B. Warner Prize for 2017

The American Astronomical Society has selected Professor Charlie Conroy to receive the Helen. B. Warner Prize for 2017

January 10, 2017

The American Astronomical Society has selected Professor Charlie Conroy to receive the Helen. B. Warner Prize for 2017.  The prize includes a cash award and an invitation to give a plenary talk, hopefully at the upcoming summer AAS meeting in Austin, Texas.  AAS Press Release 

The Helen B. Warner Prize is given annually for a significant contribution to observational...

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supercomputer simulation of the cosmological environment where primordial gas undergoes the direct collapse to a black hole

A New Kind of Black Hole, Once a Theory, Now Firmly within Observers' Sight

July 11, 2016

"Astronomers Aaron Smith and Volker Bromm of The University of Texas at Austin, working with Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, have discovered evidence for an unusual kind of black hole born extremely early in the universe. They showed that a recently discovered unusual source of intense radiation is likely powered by a "direct-collapse black hole," a type of object predicted by theorists more than a decade ago."

Full CfA Press Release: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2016-15

Image: An...

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Dave Charbonneau awarded a Blavatnik Fellowship

Dave Charbonneau awarded a Blavatnik Fellowship

June 21, 2016

Dave Charbonneau has been awarded the 2016 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists in Physical Sciences & Engineering. The award citation recognizes: "pioneering discoveries in the field of exoplanets and the development of novel observational methods to detect and characterize exoplanets with the ultimate goal of discovering habitable worlds".

The announcement may be read at: http://blavatnikawards.org/honorees/profile/david-charbonneau/

...

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ESO/M. Kornmesser

Detection of Methanol Shows Comets are Forming in Distant Solar System

June 15, 2016

Astronomers announced today that they have found the organic molecule methyl alcohol, or methanol, in the TW Hydrae protoplanetary disk. This is the first such detection of this chemical compound in a young planet-forming disk. Because methanol forms on the icy coatings of small dust grains, this discovery provides a window into the region where comets likely are forming. 

Read More: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/2016-13

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Image: Christine Pulliam (CfA). Sun image: NASA/SDO

Universe's First Life Might Have Been Born on Carbon Planets

June 8, 2016

"Our Earth consists of silicate rocks and an iron core with a thin veneer of water and life. But the first potentially habitable worlds to form might have been very different. New research suggests that planet formation in the early universe might have created carbon planets consisting of graphite, carbides, and diamond. Astronomers might find these diamond worlds by searching a rare class of stars.

"'This work shows that even stars with a tiny fraction of the carbon in our solar system can host planets,' says lead author and Harvard University graduate student Natalie Mashian....

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Alyssa Goodman Photo

Alyssa Goodman selected for 2016–2017 fellowship class at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study

May 17, 2016

Alyssa Goodman has been selected to join the 50 other women and men, who are the 2016–2017 fellowship class at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, where the acceptance rate to the fellowship program this year was just under 4 percent.

Read More: http://www.radcliffe.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/from-around-the-world-and-across-harvard...

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