16-20 November, 2009 - Brugge, Belgium
Keynote Lecture - ARE WE ALONE
by Prof. Willy Benz
We welcome Prof. Willy Benz from the university of Bern, Physikalisches Institut as the keynote speaker of this esww edition.
Abstract
With the discovery in 1995 of the first planet in orbit about a star similar to our sun, the possible existence of life elsewhere than on the Earth has become a major focus of astronomical research. While this question has always been present, it is the first time in history that powerful enough instruments are being constructed to eventually answer it in a scientific manner. Since 15 years the search for planets outside the solar system goes on. It is an enormous technical challenge and has a lot of future perspectives, both for ground and for space observations.
About ...
Benz, born in 1955 in Neuchâtel (Swiss), studied physics at the local university before he started his PhD in astrophysics at the university of Genève. He worked as a postdoc at the Los Alamos National Laboratory at the university of Harvard, where is became an assistant-professor in 1987. He was also a teacher at the university of Arizona and Genève. Since 1997, Benz is professor at the Physikalisches Institut of Bern where he became director a.i. from 2002. Because of his devotion to teaching and outstanding scientific research, he was awarded the Milton Fund price in 1988 and one year later the Thomas Temple Hoopes price.
Practical
Nov 16, 2009: 18:00 - 19:00, Ambassador room.
The keynote lecture is followed by the welcome reception in the city hall which is on walking distance.
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