Anja Andersen from the Københavns Universitet in Denmark is going to talk about “dust in the early universe to life on Earth” the 26 october at 6 p.m.

Life as we know it begins with the process of star formation. Except for hydrogen, every single atom of every single element in our bodies has been manufactured inside stars and then scattered around the universe by the winds and explosions from dying stars. The produced elements are what make up the Earth, other planets and us. We are all made of stardust.

Anja Andersen studied physics and astronomy in Copenhagen and received her PhD in astrophysics in 1999. She held postdoc positions at the Universities of Uppsala and Copenhagen and since 2002 she has been a fellow at NORDITA, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics. In 2005 she became associate professor at the Dark Cosmology Center of the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Her research is centered on the astrophysics of dust.

She is the author of nearly 40 refereed papers in academic journals and conference proceedings. She is also very active in public outreach on Danish television and radio as well as in print media and in schools. So far she published four popular books one of which is aimed at youngsters. She received numerous awards for her outreach activities among which, in 2005, the Descartes Prize for Science.

"From dust in the early universe to life on Earth "
Anja Andersen, Københavns Universitet
Monday 26 October 2009 at 6 p.m.
Campus Limpertsberg, lecture hall BS 0.03

Grande Conférence 16 de la Mission Culture Scientifique et Technique en collaboration avec le Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle, l’Association Luxembourgeoise des Physiciens et les Astronomes Amateurs du Luxembourg.