March 25, 2013

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics team leader to speak at MU

Event Information:
Date: Tuesday, April 9
Time: 5 p.m.
Place: Tony and Lucille Weasler Auditorium,
          1506 W. Wisconsin Ave.
          
David W. Latham, of Harvard University, will present “Super Earths and Life” Tuesday, April 9, at 5 p.m. in the Tony and Lucille Weasler Auditorium, 1506 W. Wisconsin Ave. The event, hosted by the Marquette Physics Department, is free and open to the public.
 
Latham, senior astronomer at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, has a research background in the search for and characterization of extra solar planetary systems, utilizing both ground-based and space-based observations. He is leading a team at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) that is using the HARPS-N spectrometer to confirm and characterize small planets identified by NASA’s Kepler Mission, with the goal of determining the properties of a population of rocky planets similar to the Earth.

Latham is visiting Marquette as the eighth annual Rev. George V. Coyne, S. J., Lecturer in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The lecture series was established in 2005 through a generous donation by Mrs. Mercedes Hurley Hughes, alumna of the College of Arts and Sciences and Marquette Trustee Emerita. As director of the Vatican Observatory, the Rev. George V. Coyne, S.J., has led a team of Jesuit astronomers in conducting cutting-edge astronomical research and in developing new telescopes and other instrumentation for studying the cosmos.  
 
The annual Coyne Lecture honors the tradition of excellence in research exemplified by the Rev. Coyne by bringing an outstanding astronomer or astrophysicist to the Marquette campus to give a public lecture explaining his or her research. The Coyne lecturer is selected annually by faculty members of Marquette’s physics department.

Past presenters of the Coyne Lecture include the Rev. George V. Coyne, S.J. (2006), Edward W. (Rocky) Kolb (2007), James Gates (2008), Ray Arvidson (2009), Anne Kinney (2010) and Joseph H. Taylor (2012).

Media wishing to speak to Latham should contact Andy Brodzeller in the Office of Marketing and Communication, at (414) 288-0286 or andrew.brodzeller@marquette.edu.