[AstroNet] What's up at the Observatory this Saturday

[Thembela Mantungwa]

Hi there,

There is a public lecture at South African Astronomical Observatory on Saturday, May 28 at 20h00 sharp. The lecture title is "Why astronomy". Dr. Andreas Faltenbacher will talk about the importance of astronomy to society and why tax payers should continue funding astronomy research.

Here's the abstract of his talk:

Currently, South Africa has successfully built top edge astronomical instruments: the 10m class optical telescope in Sutherland which is the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. In Carnarvon, the MeerKAT radio telescope which is a precursor
instrument for the future Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is underway. Also, South Africa is involved in High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) located in Namibia which searches the sky for cosmic rays. That commitment takes a considerable amount of money
out of the national funds, and astronomers may feel obliged to give justifications for it. The talk will explore why tax-payers would want to continue financing astronomical research.

Dr. Andreas Faltenbacher obtained his PhD from the University of Potsdam, Germany. His PhD thesis was about numerical work on the large scale structure of the universe. He did research at various astronomical institutions around the world, places like, Jerusalem,
Santa Cruz, Shanghai and Munich. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of the Western Cape. Andreas is among the team that is involved in preparations for the South African Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

-- 
Regards

Thembela Mantungwa
S.A. Astronomical Observatory
Tel: 021 460 9319
Fax: 086 612 7502
Mob: 071 105 0109
Email: tm at saao.ac.za
Website: www.saao.ac.za / www.salt.ac.za