From the Big Bang, the first galaxies to the universe’s uncertain future and the omnipresent black holes: The Director of the German Center for Astrophysics (DZA) Prof. Günther Hasinger will give a comprehensive overview of this topic on July 18, 2024 from 4:40 pm in the Schönfeld Lecture Hall at TU Dresden. The lecture will be followed by a get-together and will also be streamed live.

Prof. Hasinger is internationally recognized for his work in the field of X-ray astronomy and the study of black holes as the nuclei of galaxies. He has contributed significantly to investigating cosmic X-ray background radiation. His research elucidates how this radiation is mainly emitted by active black holes in distant galaxies and that black holes are probably engines for the formation of galaxies.

Prof. Hasinger has held the Chair of Astrophysics at the TUD's Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics since 2023 and will be welcomed as part of the university-wide inaugural lecture series. Rector Prof. Ursula Staudinger will introduce him to the audience, which will be followed by speeches by Prof. Wolfgang E. Nagel (Director of the Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing, ZIH) and Prof. Gesche Pospiech (Dean of the Faculty of Physics).

Background:

From 2004 to 2006, Prof. Hasinger was Chairman of the Council of German Observatories (RDS). From 2008 to 2011, he was Scientific Director of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching. Prof. Hasinger then served as Director of the Institute for Astronomy (IfA) at the University of Hawaii until 2018. In 2017, he was appointed Director of Science at the European Space Agency (ESA). He was awarded the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (2005), the Prof. Luigi Tartufari International Prize (2012) and the Röntgen Plaque (2020).

TU Dresden is the project manager of the German Center for Astrophysics. This involves five new Chairs and a newly designed Master's degree program. In this way, TUD is taking responsibility for structural change as part of the TUD Lusatia Campus project.

More information:

• Live streaming at https://www.youtube.com/live/vA3PdWAGkoY
• Website: https://tu-dresden.de/exzellenz/uwil

The university-wide inaugural lecture will be held in English and introduces newly appointed professors of outstanding strategic importance for TUD’s research profile. The event will be streamed live. During the subsequent get-together, you will have the opportunity to talk to Prof. Hasinger.

Media contact:

TU Dresden Press Office

Email:

Tel.: +49 351 463 32398