Colloquium 2010-03-11

 

3:30 p.m. in Room 307 of the Optical Sciences Meinel Building

Speaker:

Jacques Beckers

Emeritus:  National Solar Observatory

Title:

Fifty Years of Fun with Astronomical Optics

 

Host:

Mahmoud Fallahi

 

Abstract:

Much of my research in my 50 years as astronomer has focused on optics of various kinds in solar and nighttime astronomy. It includes telescopes (with apertures ranging from 50 microns to 50 meters), filters (with bandwidths down to 5 picometers), spectroscopy, polarimetry, adaptive optics, interferometry, atmospheric optics, and various astronomical instruments. Some of it has been implemented; other efforts remained conceptual. Some of it is part of the past; other efforts are being implemented now or will be in the foreseeable future. About 25% of my published research deals with astronomical optics. In this talk I will give a broad overview of that work.

 
Bio:

Jacques Beckers obtained his doctorate in 1964 at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He worked at CSIRO in Sydney, Australia, the Sacramento Peak Observatory, NM, the High Altitude Observatory, CO, the Multiple Mirror Telescope Observatory, AZ, the NOAO Advanced Development Program, AZ, the European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany and the National Solar Observatory in NM & AZ. His research specialties are solar physics and experimental astronomy. He directed a number of programs and observatories. Member of The Netherlands and Norwegian Academies of Sciences; Honorary Doctorate from the University of Lund, Sweden; awards from the US National Academy of Sciences and the Swedish Academy for the Natural Sciences, Medicine and Technology; Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.