STEM Colloquium: Cosmic Archeology – A Glimpse of the Early Universe and the Origins of Us

We are the first generation of humans to see the entire visible universe, and telescopes like JWST (James Web Space Telescope) have allowed us to witness the moment in time when stars and galaxies themselves came into being.

How different was this ancient time to the modern universe we live in, and how do events of 12 billion years ago shape a cosmos that is perfect for life?

Presented by Dr. Simon Steel, Deputy Director of Carl Sagan Center for Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. Simon received his PhD in observational astrophysics from University College Dublin studying star formation in distant galaxies. After working at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as lecturer and education specialist, he joined the SETI Institute, a research center dedicated to the search for life in the universe. So maybe we’ll talk about how JWST can find aliens too.