Blaauw Lecture Prof. Scott Tremaine: New Worlds, the search for planets outside our Solar System

On November 24 2009 professor Scott Tremaine (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) will present the 10th annual Blaauw Lecture in the Academy Building of the University of Groningen,  20:00h. Entrance to the lecture is free.

The subject of the lecture is "New Worlds: the search for planets outside our Solar System". The lecture will discuss the newest findings concerning the discovery since 1995 of more than 400 planets orbiting neighbouring stars. These findings provide crucial insight into the formation of planets, planetary systems and our own Solar System. Not only does this answer the question that occupied humanity for thousands of years, with respect to the existence of planets outside the Solar System. It also has inspired our hope to find planets like our own Earth, perhaps opening the road towards finding life elsewhere in the Universe ...

Professor Tremaine is Blaauw professor for the year 2009, the 10th Blaauw professor. This prestigious chair is named after Prof. A. Blaauw in honor of his outstanding scientific and organisational achievements and his extremely important impact on astronomy in Groningen, the Netherlands and the world. The appointment of professor Treamine has been made possible by a visiting KNAW professorship.

Professor Tremaine is a Canadian-born astrophysicist who is considered to be one of the world's leading astrophysicists for his contributions to the theory of the solar system, the formation of planetary systems, and stellar and galaxy dynamics. He wrote, together with prof. Binney (Oxford), the standard work in this field. His work has been recognized by numerous prestigious prizes such as Helen B. Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society, and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics.