|
Jonathan Gardner Goddard Space Flight Center 2022 John C. Lindsay Memorial Award Winner |
 |
"Science from the First Year with the James Webb Space Telescope"
THE JOHN C. LINDSAY MEMORIAL LECTURE
|
Jonathan Gardner Goddard Space Flight Center 2022 John C. Lindsay Memorial Award Winner |
|
Where did we come from? What path leads us through the 13.8-billion-year history of the Universe, connecting the particles and energy of the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies like the Milky Way, stars like the Sun and planets like the Earth? The James Webb Space Telescope was designed to answer fundamental questions about the origins of galaxies, stars and planets, and to help us find our place in the Universe. Webb was launched on Christmas Day, 2021, after 25 years of planning, design, development, construction, and testing. The first year of science results from Webb have engaged the public and surprised the scientists. Webb has found the most distant galaxies ever seen. The light from these galaxies has been traveling for 13.5 billion years of the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang, allowing us to study early galaxies that formed under very different conditions than we see today. Webb has examined the interactions between giant stars and the planets that are forming near them, has made the first detection of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, and has mapped the outer Solar System. New science themes are emerging from the first year of science results with the telescope. In this talk, I will describe what we have learned and look ahead to additional results expected in the coming years.
About the Speaker
Jonathan P. Gardner was the Deputy Senior Project Scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope from 2002 until the current year. Gardner received an AB degree from Harvard and MS and PhD from the University of Hawaii. As a NATO Fellow, he did postdoctoral research at the University of Durham in the UK. He came to NASA-Goddard in 1996 to work with the Hubble Space Telescope, but soon got involved in early studies of Webb. His scientific research involves using deep infrared observations to study the statistical evolution of galaxies. On the Webb project, he worked with the other scientists to ensure the scientific success of the mission, now coming to fruition with Webb's results. In addition to his role on Webb, Gardner also served as the Chief of Goddard's Observational Cosmology Laboratory from 2006 until the launch of Webb on Christmas Day, 2021. He recently accepted an assignment as the Goddard co-lead for NASA's Transform to Open Science (TOPS) program.