with
Victoria Kaspi, McGill University
A glance at the night sky during a quiet walk
in the dark countryside suggests that our cosmos is calm
and largely unchanging. However, X-ray space telescopes
reveal a
radically different Universe – one of enormous thermonuclear
explosions, jets spewing from super massive black holes,
and giant gamma-ray bursts. These dramatic, violent phenomena
in the sky are a testament to Nature's ability to harness
huge sources of energy in ways that cannot currently be
replicated in Terrestrial laboratories. Dr. Kaspi will describe
several of these types of events, their origin, frequency,
and what they can tell us about physical extremes currently
mysterious to science.
Dr. Kaspi is a world leader in the study of neutron stars
– ultradense, rapidly rotating stars that are close
cousins of black holes. She holds the Lorne Trottier Chair
in Astrophysics and Cosmology, and a Canada Research Chair
in Observational Astrophysics in McGill University’s
Department of Physics. Her many awards and honours include
the Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Memorial Medal for
Physics, the Herzberg Medal of the Canadian Association
of Physicists, an NSERC Steacie Fellowship, the Canadian
Institute for Advanced Research Young Explorer Prize and
an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.
The talk will also celebrate Canada’s major contributions
to astronomy, during the International Year of Astronomy
2009.
Organized by: The Partnership Group for Science and Engineering
(PAGSE)
Sponsored by:
--the Speaker of the Senate
--the Speaker of the House of Commons
--Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
Date: Thursday June 4, 2009 from 7:30 am - 9:00 am
Place: Room 200, West Block, Parliament Hill
Cost: No charge to Members of the House of Commons, Senators
and Media. All others $20
Registration: Please register by contacting Donna Boag,
PAGSE Coordinator: 613-991-6369, pagse@rsc.ca
Registration Deadline: Monday June 1, 2009
