Gravitational lenses

Gravitational lenses

Interviewed by
Jon Phillips
Interview dates
July 16 and August 20, 2024
Location
Video conference
Abstract

Interview with Tony Tyson, Distinguished Research Professor at UC Davis in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The interview begins with Tyson sharing stories from his childhood in southern California and his early interest in ham radio. He discusses his undergraduate studies at Stanford and his introduction to low-temperature physics. Tyson describes his graduate studies at University of Wisconsin and a fellowship at University of Chicago. He explains his thesis experiment on phase transitions and discusses having both Dave Douglas and Chandrasekhar as advisors. Tyson recalls being recruited by Bell Labs and talks about his initial work there on gravitational radiation. He describes branching out into cosmology and astrophysics and recounts his time in John Wheeler’s gravity group at the Institute for Advanced Study. Tyson reflects on the impact of CCDs and his role in their development for astronomy. Tyson also discusses the evolution of the LSST project, of which he is the founding director. Topics include site selection, funding and fundraising, and the renaming of the project for Vera Rubin. The interview concludes with Tyson sharing his hopes for the future of the field and his excitement for the new discoveries that will inevitably come from the LSST. 

Interviewed by
David Zierler
Interview date
Location
Video conference
Abstract

In this interview, Paul Schechter, the William A. M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics, Emeritus, at MIT discusses his time as an undergraduate student at Cornell University under the mentorship of Al Silverman and his involvement working on the Cornell synchrotron, as well as Silverman’s influence on his decision to attend Caltech for graduate school. Schechter discusses his collaboration with Bill Press on the issue of dark matter and the eventual creation of their model, the Extended Press-Schechter. He also details how studying the infall of galaxies toward the Virgo Cluster, and the subsequent paper he contributed to on the topic, were the most exciting part of his time working at the Kitt Peak National Observatory. Schechter describes his later interests in gravitational lensing and his efforts to create higher quality images for Magellan telescopes. Lastly, he discusses his desire to find the stellar mass fraction in galaxies.