Govind Swarup Memorial Lecture 2021

Govind Swarup Memorial Lecture

23/March/21 (10:30 UT, 16:00IST)

NCRA-TIFR announces the launch of an annual lecture in honour of Prof. Govind Swarup. Prof. Swarup, who passed away in September 2020, was the major force behind establishing radio astronomy research in India. He founded the the Radio Astronomy group at TIFR which later became the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, of which he was the founder director. He conceived and led the construction of two novel, large radio telescopes, the Ooty Radio Telescope and the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope. He was also one of the pioneers in advocating for the international Square Kilometer Array. The inaugural lecture of this series "how innovation has driven the science of radio astronomy", will be given by prof. Ron Ekers, CSIRO Australia.

Prof. Ron Ekers graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1963 and received his PhD in astronomy at the Australian National University (ANU) in 1967. During his distinguished career, he has held many positions, including director of the Very Large Array (VLA) USA, from 1980 until 1987, and Founding Director of CSIRO's Australia Telescope National acility from 1988 to 2003. He was president of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) from 2003-2006, and is the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including  the Federation Fellowship,  Australia's Centenary Medal, the Flinders Medal from the Australian Academy of Science and the Grote Reber medal. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the Royal Dutch Academy of Science, a Foreign Member of the American Philosophical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society. The lecture will be held online on 23/March/21 at 10:30 UT (16:00) IST and can be viewed at  https://youtu.be/XWCORdPhCa4