June 15, 2007
THE JOHN C. LINDSAY
MEMORIAL
LECTURE
JAMES E. GUNN PRINCETON UNIVERSITY |
 |
"Surveys: Picture Windows into the Universe"
Large surveys
have for half a century played a central role in
astronomy, but in the last decade and in the coming decades have
and will play a pivotal role in understanding both the large-scale
structure of the universe and the nature and evolution of objects
in it. This lecture addresses these issues, concentrating on the
impact of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a soon-to-be completed
imaging survey of about a quarter of the sky and a redshift survey
of the brightest million galaxies and hundred thousand quasars
in that area. Of particular importance in this context is the
interplay and interaction with surveys at other wavelengths from
the radio to the X-ray, and the promise of future even more ambitious
survey projects.
astronomy, but in the last decade and in the coming decades have
and will play a pivotal role in understanding both the large-scale
structure of the universe and the nature and evolution of objects
in it. This lecture addresses these issues, concentrating on the
impact of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a soon-to-be completed
imaging survey of about a quarter of the sky and a redshift survey
of the brightest million galaxies and hundred thousand quasars
in that area. Of particular importance in this context is the
interplay and interaction with surveys at other wavelengths from
the radio to the X-ray, and the promise of future even more ambitious
survey projects.