Sep 23
Frank G. and Jean M. Chesley Lecture in Astronomy with Dr. Steven Finkelstein (UT Austin)
Wed, September 23, 2026
• 7:00pm
- 8:30pm (1h 30m) • Olin 149
Dr. Steven Finkelstein from the University of Texas, Austin, will deliver this year's Chesley Lecture in Astronomy.
Our Cosmic Origins - Early Galaxies and Black Holes
When did the first stars, galaxies and black holes form in the universe? The Hubble Space Telescope, for all its amazing discoveries, could not observe the earliest phases of structure formation, in the first 500 million years after the Big Bang. The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2021 has revolutionized this field, providing the first observation of the earliest phases of structure formation in the universe. From the first images to drop, astronomers were stunned by what we saw. We found an early universe filled with more galaxies than expected, a completely unexpected population of “little red dots”, and abundant growing black holes. I will tell the story of these earliest observations, explain why astronomers were so stunned, and highlight our current attempts to reconcile our theories of galaxy and black hole formation with these revolutionary new observations.
Event Contact: Trenne Fields