COSMIC CHALLENGES

Rafael Rebolo López
Instituto Astrofíciso de Canarias

Sunday 21st / 18:00 pm.
Room Islas Canarias

Prof. Rafael Rebolo has pioneered in Spain experimental research on Cosmic Microwave Background, the radiation from the  Big Bang which  pervades the Universe, on nucleosynthesis processes in the Cosmos and on the formation processes of low luminosity objects like brown dwarfs, exoplanets and black holes. He is Research Professor at the High Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and  External Professor of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. Co-investigator of the space mission Planck recently launched by ESA to investigate the Cosmic Microwave Background and  of several international teams involved in the development of the most advanced astronomical instrumentation including   the future 42m ELT, the European project for the world  largest optical infrared telescope.  He is member of several boards for coordination of Astronomy in Europe and  USA (EARA, OPTICON, AURA) and of the Spanish Academy of Sciences. He  has been Head of Research of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, one of the largest institutions for Astronomy in Europe.  Prof Rebolo has been awarded several of the most important research prizes in Spain  for his studies  on the radiation from the Big Bang,  for the discovery in 1995  of brown dwarfs (astronomical objects intermediate between  stars and giant planets, billions exist  in our  Galaxy )   and for his studies on the origin of stellar black holes.  He is currently leading several projects aimed to search for gravitational waves in the Big Bang and to detect terrestrial planets in nearby stars from the observatories of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.