This past summer, Piper Lentz analyzed data of dwarf stars to advance investigations into the possibilities of life beyond our universe. A senior Astronomy and Physics double major at Amherst College, she has spent the past three years working under Professor Bardalez Gagliuffi in the Binary Worlds Lab. When Piper joined the summer after her…
Cover image credit: ESO/L. Calçada Two thousand years ago, Aristotle posited that the Sun and the planets of our Solar System are immaculate, divine bodies — a belief that stood its ground even into the 17th century. But Galileo, alongside other astronomers of his time, pointed his telescope at the heavens and uncovered a messier…
By Fernanda Morais Cover image credit: NASA Astrobiology On February 25, Dr. Mark Popinchalk, a postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History, visited the Amherst Physics & Astronomy Department for its weekly colloquium. Dr. Popinchalk is a member of the Brown Dwarfs in New York City (BDNYC) research group. Brown dwarfs are objects…
It’s now been six years since the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration shocked the world with this first-ever image of a black hole. How did they make it happen, and what are they up to now?…
Last semester, the Physics and Astronomy Department welcomed a new postdoc, Dr. Mark Giovinazzi. In this article, we explore Mark’s research expertise on low-mass stars and exoplanets and learn more about his personal life at Amherst! His journey involves diverse research experiences and the continuous mission to elevate underrepresented students in the field. …
By Ryogo Katahira Klara Matuszewska ’26 won a Chambliss Astronomy Achievement Student Award for 2024. The award is to “recognize exemplary research by undergraduate and graduate students” and is selected by the American Astronomical Society (AAS). Matuszekska is a physics and astronomy double major from Warsaw, Poland and works in Professor Daniella Bardalez Gagliuffi’s research…
Cover image courtesy of ESA: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2007/07/The_Bullet_Cluster2 Article by Olivia Fann and Fernanda On October 17, 2023, the bottom floor of the Science Center was filled with professors and students enjoying refreshments and conversation. It was time for the weekly Physics Colloquium, a public talk given by a visiting scholar on a topic relevant to their…
By Nora Lowe On September 8, the Science Center was cleared of furniture and filled instead with student researchers. This year’s cohort of Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) participants presented more than 80 posters as the culmination of their multiweek experience of rigorous scientific inquiry across nine departments, as well as in collaboration with parties…
Article by Amy Zheng Cailin Plunkett ’23 is a physics and math major from Oakland, California. She is writing her thesis with Assistant Professor of Astronomy Kate Follette on the formation of protoplanets. Since childhood, Plunkett wanted to study space and physics. Despite receiving advice to pursue computer science or engineering, Plunkett chose to follow…
On March 29, Presidential Scholar Chanda Prescod-Weinstein gave a talk in the Science Center called “Cosmic Probes of the Dark Sector.” Prescod-Weinstein is an Assistant Professor of Physics and Core Faculty Member in Women’s Studies at the University of New Hampshire. She began her talk by telling the audience that “there are no stupid questions,…