SCIENCE AT THE SHINE DOME canberra 3 - 5 may 2006

New Fellows Seminar

Wednesday, 3 May 2006

Dr Brian Boyle
Director, CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, Sydney

Brian Boyle completed his PhD at the University of Durham in the UK. He held positions at the University of Edinburgh, the Anglo-Australian Observatory, the University of Cambridge and was Director of the Anglo-Australian Observatory from 1996 to 2003, before his appointment as Director of the Australia Telescope National Facility in July 2003. Brian has published more than 250 papers in astronomy. His primary research interests are in the fields of quasars, active galaxies and cosmology. While at the Anglo- Australian Observatory he led the 2dF QSO redshift survey program, the largest survey of quasars ever conducted. He holds an Adjunct Chair at the University of New South Wales. Brian is currently Chair of the National Committee for Astronomy and Chair-elect of the International Square Kilometre Array Steering Committee.

Cosmic censuses

Over the past two decades, astronomy has experienced a golden age of discoveries. Many of these discoveries were made possible by developments in technology that have allowed increasingly larger scale surveys of astronomical objects to be undertaken. The results from over two decades of surveys for quasars – which has seen their known numbers increase by 100-fold – will be discussed. Some of the next generation of cosmic censuses that are being planned in which Australia is playing a leading role will be elaborated.