Loraine Hanlon has a BSc and MSc in experimental physics at UCD, and spent 4 years in the Netherlands to do research in space-based gamma-ray astronomy at the ESA research headquarters in Noordwijk. Hanlon received a PhD and began as a lecturer in UCD in 1997, becoming Associate Professor of Astronomy in 2007. Hanlon’s research activities are in the areas of space science and astrophysics, with a particular emphasis on ground-based and space-based studies of gamma-ray bursts, the most powerful and distant explosive events in the universe. She developes hardware and instrumentation for astrophysics. Hanlon’s team has built the Watcher robotic telescope, which is located in South Africa and is Ireland’s only professional telescope at a high quality observing site. She also works on advanced techniques for gamma-ray detection, for both astrophysics and medical applications. She is co-founder of UCD’s Art in Science programme (www.ucdartinscience.com), which brings scientists and artists together in collaboration, through an artist in residence programme, joint exhibitions and seminars. exotic windows on the Universe are also becoming available, heralding an era of ‘multi-messenger’ astronomy, in which light, particles and gravitational waves together may provide a more complete understanding of the processes and interactions that shape our Universe.
From Atoms to Astrophysics – How we know what we know about the Universe, June 2014
How do we know what stars are made of? Why do X-rays, rather than visible light, provide tell-tale evidence of black holes? Why is there no single ‘perfect’ telescope that can observe everything?
This talk primarily explores the interaction of light with matter. It is this interaction that has determined the kinds of telescopes we typically use to observe the Universe and the science that can be deduced as a result.
Now, more exotic windows on the Universe are also becoming available, heralding an era of ‘multi-messenger’ astronomy, in which light, particles and gravitational waves together may provide a more complete understanding of the processes and interactions that shape our Universe.