The Cosmic Savannah Ep. 76: First Ever Live Show Debut at Astronomy Olympics

Hosted by Dr. Jacinta Delhaize, Dr. Tshiamiso Makwela & Dr. Daniel Cunnama.

Watch the whole show on YouTube! [Editor's note: Start at 20:28 where the audio starts with some rocking marimba action! The last 5 minutes here are more tunes from the marimba band.]

https://www.youtube.com/live/Dgw6mz5bTG4?si=xAr-fa0GvLwpT-pc

This week, join us for a special live episode from the 2024 IAU General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, featuring black hole simulations expert Dr. Nicole Thomas and winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize for Physics Prof. Brian Schmidt.

 

Cape Town born Dr. Nicole Thomas returns to The Cosmic Savannah four years after previously featuring in episodes 9 and 14 as a PhD student. She shares with us the story of her illustrious academic career around the world since then, including a postdoctoral research position in the UK at the Institute of Computational Cosmology, University of Durham and now a prestigious Jim Buckee Fellowship at the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, University of Western Australia.

 

Nicole explains to us her latest research on using state-of-the-art supercomputer simulations to understanding the havoc that supermassive black holes wreak on galaxies. She does this by trying to model how the Universe works using our current understanding of physics and comparing her results to images of the real Universe taken with South Africa's MeerKAT telescope. She hints that she looks forward to applying these simulations to the findings of the upcoming SKA telescope!

 

Next, Nobel Laureate Prof Brian Schmidt, a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University joins the team on stage. Brian takes us back to the night of the 4th of October 2011 when he received a call from Sweden telling him he had won the Nobel Prize. Brian received the prize, alongside two other people, for having discovered the accelerating expansion of the Universe. He discusses what life has been like after such a monumental achievement, including his experiences as Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University. Finally, he tells us about his plans to get back to doing research and reveals what he thinks the next big astrophysical breakthroughs will be using the SKA telescope under construction in South Africa and Australia.

 

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