Steidel receives Gruber Cosmology Prize, lectures on 'adolescent universe'

Amidst the celebrations for a 20th century icon in the world of astronomy, one of today's most important leaders will be honored with the prestigious 2010 Gruber Cosmology Prize.

Professor Charles C. Steidel will accept the $500,000 award from The Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation at the University of Chicago on Friday, October 15. Known for his discovery of the most distant galaxies to date, Steidel is credited with revolutionizing the study of galactic evolution.

Fittingly, the award ceremony will take place against the backdrop of the University's weekend Chandrasekhar Centennial Symposium, a tribute to Nobel laureate S. Chandrasekhar (Chandra) on what would have been his 100th birthday. Originally from India, Chandra taught at the University of Chicago from 1937 until his death in 1995 (coincidentally the same year Steidel identified the earliest galaxies.) A world renowned astrophysicist, Chandra was lauded for his work in theoretical structure and the evolution of stars. Scientists from around the world have gathered in Chicago for the symposium.

Following the Gruber Cosmology Prize presentation, Steidel will deliver a public lecture aimed at a combination peer and lay audience on "Observations of Structure Formation in the Adolescent Universe." It is at 4 p.m. at the Assembly Hall of the University's International House.

"My main scientific interest is, and has been, how the galaxies got there," Steidel explained. How and when did they form, and has the process changed over time?

To answer these questions, astronomers need to observe galaxies at different stages of their development, over the course of billions of years. In the mid-1990s, using what was then the most powerful telescope on Earth, and implementing a method of measurement based on knowledge of the speed of light and more subtle factors, Steidel and his colleagues were able to find evidence of "primordial galaxies" some 12 billion years ago - when the Universe was a mere 2 billion years old.

Like the universe itself, his work continues to evolve. Most recently, he has prepared a paper on a technique that uses multiple "skewers" of one-dimensional views through the universe to create a composite 3-D view of highly active galaxies spewing gas into space. He and his team have discovered that a galaxy can influence a region in space 100 times its own diameter.

Provided by Robin Leedy & Associates, Inc.