Blaauw lecture 2022

Every year the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute organizes the Blaauw Lecture. This is a lecture by an internationally renowned astronomer which everyone, including the general public, can attend. The level of the lecture is such that everyone should be able to understand it. In 2022 the Blaauw Lecture is given by professor Paola Caselli of the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Garching, Germany.

The Blaauw lecture will be held on 15 November 2022. (Tickets available from mid-October)

Blaauw lecture 2022: "Making Life from Stardust"

Our Solar System was born from a dark and cold cloud made out of gas and small dust particles. Thanks to powerful telescopes, we can now study in detail these clouds, their chemical ingredients and their evolution. We can then reconstruct our origins. In this talk I’ll present a journey through space and time starting from interstellar clouds and ending to our Solar System. The dawn of organic molecules, the formation of stars and planets and the first steps towards life will be unveiled.

Blaauw Professor 2022: dr. Paola Caselli

Paola Caselli has been Director of the Center for Astrochemical Studies at the Max-Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics since 2014. Before this appointment, she was researcher at the Osservatorio Astrofisico di Arcetri (Florence) until 2005, Visiting Scholar in the Department of Astronomy, Harvard University until 2007, and Professor of Astronomy at the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds until 2014. She is using interstellar molecules to find how stars and planets form.