Prof. George Fitzgerald Smoot III, a globally acclaimed astrophysicist who won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Prof. John Mather, was the guest speaker at the inauguration of the University’s Institute of Space Sciences and Astronomy (ISSA) at the Aula Magna of the Valletta campus.

His talk, titled ‘The Big Bang Theory’, presented a review of the current state of cosmology based on astronomical observations and discussed the mysteries that still need to be solved. He emphasised the need for continuous mapping of the matter in the universe which allows scientists to trace its history in detail.

The talk also opened ISSA’s first workshop, entitled ‘Cosmos in the Med’, which ended on Friday and culminated with the annual science festival, Science in the City. Smoot also took part in the festival.

ISSA is composed of members from the faculties of Science, Engineering and ICT, and is one of the University’s first multi­disciplinary bodies.

Its members are working on numerous projects, with collaborations that cross the globe, while building up in-house infrastructure for a broad range of disciplines such as supercomputing capacities, advanced electromagnetic instruments for antenna design and new theoretical physics.

The members are heavily involved in several international projects and consortia, including the Square Kilometer Array, the Euclid Telescope and the Einstein Telescope, amongst others.

The institute is also offering a research-based master course in astroinformatics.

For details e-mail issa@um. edu.mt or call 2340 2524.

www.um.edu.mt/issa

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