Mohler Prize Public Lecture: "Hot Gas in Clusters of Galaxies, Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation and Cosmology"

Have you ever wondered how we learn about our expanding Universe when it was young? Hear about this from one of the greatest astrophysicists of our time, Rashid Sunyaev, who will be giving the Mohler Prize lecture on Friday, October 7 at 7pm. Professor Sunyaev will speak about the Cosmic Microwave Background and the event that led to its creation long before any stars or planets had formed. Through the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), we see tiny variations in the density of the universe that collapses under gravity to form the familiar galaxies and solar systems of today. The CMB also reveals the amounts of dark energy, dark matter, normal matter that comprise our Universe and dictate its evolution and future.

Rashid Sunyaev is one of the most distinguished theoretical astrophysicist, with groundbreaking work in high energy astrophysics and physical cosmology. He has made many contribution in the study of the cosmic microwave background radiation, including predictions of variations in the background due to oscillations and to the distortion of the background light through the hot gas in clusters of galaxies (the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect). Predicted well ahead of their discoveries, these have become central fields in modern astrophysics. Another major contribution is his work with Shakura on the accretion disk of gas around black holes and neutron stars, which is the cornerstone for understanding the environment and feeding of these exotic objects.

In addition to his theoretical work, Professor Sunyaev has been deeply involved in a number of Soviet space missions: RELIKT, which measured variations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (1980s); he led the team that operated an X-ray observatory on the Mir space station; he was a principal in the GRANAT orbiting X-ray telescope; and he is leading a team to launch the Spectrum-X-Gamma International Astrophysical Project in 2017.

Professor Sunyaev was won 14 major prizes or distinguished awards, including the Heineman Prize (2003), the Crafoord Prize (2008), and the Kyoto Prize (2011); the earliest being the Bruno Rossi Prize of High Energy Astrophysical Division of the American Astronomical Society in 1988. In addition to being a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, he is a member of five other distinguished (exclusive) societies.

Originally from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, he was educated at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (PhD in 1968), where he became a professor (1975) and held a position at the Moscow Institute of Applied Mathematics, along with being the head of the Laboratory for Theoretical Astrophysics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1973-1982). More recently, he holds several positions, including Professor at the Institute of Physics and Technology in Moscow, head of the High-Energy Astrophysics Dept. of the Institute for Space Research in Moscow (since 2002; Chief Scientist since 1992), and Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany (since 1996).

The Orren C. Mohler Prize was established by the Department of Astronomy in 1986 and is awarded for excellence in research in astronomy and astrophysics.