Past Event! Note: this event has already taken place.

When: Thursday, February 6th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm — 8:00 pm
Location:Health Sciences Building, 1301
Audience:Anyone

Four centuries ago, when Galileo first trained his telescope on the night sky, light—“the messenger of the stars”—revealed to him and to humanity a multitude of celestial bodies that had never been seen before. From that day onward, increasingly sophisticated instruments have captured entirely new colors and wavelengths invisible to the naked eye, gradually unveiling the hidden wonders of our Universe. The discovery of cosmic rays soon followed, sparking one of the most thrilling intellectual adventures in scientific history. In this seminar, Alessandro De Angelis retraces that extraordinary journey—already forging ahead into the future—and showcases some of today’s cutting-edge telescopes for ultra-high-energy photons, neutrinos, and gravitational waves: the hallmarks of 21st-century astronomy that are opening new frontiers in exploring the hidden Universe.

Alessandro De Angelis is a high-energy physicist and astrophysicist. A professor at the Universities of Padua and Lisbon, he serves as the scientific counselor for the Italian Delegation to International Organizations in Paris. His main research interests lie in fundamental physics, particularly astrophysics and elementary particle physics at accelerators. A graduate of the University of Padua and a CERN staff member in the 1990s, he later was one of the founding members of NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Telescope, the MAGIC telescopes at La Palma, and the SWGO observatory in Chile. He is the author of numerous scientific publications in journals such as Science and Nature, as well as general interest articles and essays on the history and philosophy of science, and of several books. In particular he authored four books on Galileo: Galileo and satellite navigation (Springer and Castelvecchi), Galileo and the 1604 supernova (Springer and Castelvecchi), The best eighteen years of my life (Castelvecchi and Gradiva), Two new sciences for modern readers (Codice, Springer, and EDP).

Alessandro De Angelis est un physicien des hautes énergies et un astrophysicien. Professeur aux universités de Padoue et de Lisbonne, il occupe le poste de conseiller scientifique auprès de la délégation italienne aux organisations internationales à Paris. Ses principaux intérêts de recherche se situent dans le domaine de la physique fondamentale, en particulier l’astrophysique et la physique des particules élémentaires. Diplômé de l’Université de Padoue et membre du personnel du CERN dans les années 1990, il a ensuite été l’un des membres fondateurs du télescope gamma Fermi de la NASA, des télescopes MAGIC à La Palma, et de l’observatoire SWGO au Chili. Il est l’auteur de nombreuses publications scientifiques dans des revues telles que Science et Nature, ainsi que d’articles de vulgarisation et d’essais sur l’histoire et la philosophie des sciences. Il a également publié plusieurs ouvrages, notamment quatre livres consacrés à Galilée : Galileo and satellite navigation (Springer et Castelvecchi), Galileo and the 1604 supernova (Springer et Castelvecchi), The best eighteen years of my life (Castelvecchi et Gradiva), et Two new sciences for modern readers (Codice, Springer et EDP).

This event is sponsored in part by:

  • The Embassy of Italy in Ottawa
  • The Permanent Delegation of Italy to the International Organizations in Paris
  • Carleton University Research and International

Galileo and the Hidden Universe

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