Instituto de Física y Astronomía

Noviembre 3, 2015. Noticias IFA.

On November 2, the Sala Ruben Dario del Centro de Extensión de la U. de Valparaíso, a place that has welcomed a public passionate about astronomy on every first Monday of the month between April and December for almost ten years, celebrated 100 Talks on this lovely science among the interested community. Among those present were the Rector of the Universidad de Valparaíso, Mr. Aldo Valle, the Director of the Centro de Extensión, Mr. David Carrillo, the Director of the Dirección de Investigación, Dr. Adrián Palacios, the Dean of the Facultad de Ciencias, Dr. Juan Kuznar, Director of División Académica, Mr. José Miguel Salazar, and the Director for the Centro de Astrofísica, Dr. Verónica Motta. The event began with a presentation by the author of this initiative, Dr. Nikolaus Vogt, professor and investigator for IFA, giving an account of how it all began, remembering that very first talk, on May 8, 2006, and then the results of this effort over almost ten years. He gave the public an idea of the astronomers and other people who participated in this project,  their affiliations, academic degree, and nationality,  all whom collaborated generously with talks on some specific area in astronomy, ranging from planetary, galactic, extragalactic astronomy and also cosmology, not leaving out  music of the stars, and exotic objects from our galaxy and the profound universe, bio-astronomy, archeo-astronomy, amateur astronomy and its collaboration in the work of professionals. Also, and most important, he mentioned the two scientific panels which were undertaken to invite the public to learn about how science is done. He ended his intervention by presenting and welcoming Dr. Patricia Arévalo, professor and investigator of IFA, who will share and undertake the continuity of this astronomy outreach program at the Centro de Extensión. The Director del Centro de Extension, Mr. David Carrillo then thanked professor Vogt for his work, highlighting the importance of this cycle within the UV, mentioning some new ideas to further it in the future. Then, the Dean of the Facultad de Ciencias,  Dr. Juan Kuznar took the stand and gave an account of a less known, but not less important, aspect of astronomy, namely that associated to biology and chemistry and how the new observatories will be able to tackle them with better definition in the near future, exploring bio-markers of new worlds with the aim to studying their possibilities for sustaining life. Finally, the much awaited 100 th talk took place, given by Dr. Michel Curé, professor and investigator from IFA, who gave  an  animated and dynamic description of Chile today, during 50 minutes, regarding its academic and instrumental aspect  in astronomy, most importantly the observatories and their presence in the world, and their light collecting capacity. He took those present on a journey into the future, by means of attractive videos, showing the new observatories that are already being installed and those projected to be built in the north of Chile, and evidencing how these will then represent 2/3 of the all the worlds optical and near infrarred light collecting power,a relevant fact for the development in Chile of Astronomy. Somewhat closer to home, Valparaíso, Dr. Curé gave an account of that vision held by only six people, way back in 2006, and who created what today is known as the Instituto de Fisica y Astronomía, IFA which grew at an exponential rate, and which today is has no less than 18 professors with a PhD degree, undertaking cutting edge research, with two postgraduate programs, Master and PhD in Astrophysics, each one accredited for the maximum period allowable. He thanked the support given by the Rector and directors of the university who were able to envision this very same dream of astronomy for the V Region  and which today offers an exceptional future not only for the University of Valparaíso but establishes it as pioneer in astronomy in the region. The event closed with a celebration cocktail in which the attending public were able to talk directly with Drs. Curé and Vogt and other participants of this celebration  of 100 talks doing outreach in astronomy to the public, at no cost and of very high academic level.     (Credits images: Facultad de Ciencias Journalist Pamela Simonetti, and her team). Associated link: Dr. Nikolaus Vogt´s presentation, .pdf file