Japan Office

Dr Martin Bureau Lecturer in Astrophysics, Fellow of Wadham College Supermassive black holes lurk at the centre of every galaxy, and play a major role in the evolution of our universe. Given their intrinsically small size and zone of influence, however, how this comes about remains shrouded in mystery. Dr Bureau will thus start with a brief look into the properties of light and the telescopes that astronomers use to study the cosmos. He will then introduce the supermassive black holes hiding at the centre of every galaxy, along with their importance for the evolution of galaxies. Current methods to weigh black holes will then be described, before Dr Bureau introduces a new, conceptually simple but powerful method to measure black holes developed in Oxford. This method will exploit the new Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the world largest ground-based telescope project, in which both the United Kingdom and Japan play a key role. With potentially thousands of black hole targets, this work will revolutionise our understanding of the coevolution between black holes and galaxies. The possibilities are, quite literally, astronomical… Dr Bureau is a self-described galaxy guru, with an interest in anything and everything galactic. He is particularly interested in using observational and theoretical studies of the gas, stars, and dark matter in galaxies to constrain their formation and evolution. Dr Bureau has been a lecturer in astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a fellow and tutor in physics at Wadham College, for nearly a decade. This followed appointments at Columbia University as a NASA Hubble Fellow and at Leiden University. He obtained is PhD from The Australian National University. This lecture is the sixth in the Oxford Academics in Japan series, in which we invite academics from all fields to talk to alumni and friends of the University. All are welcome.

Friday 4 April 2014

19:00 – 20:00 Lecture UF Hall Sanbancho UF Building 1F, 6-3 Sanbancho Chiyoda ku, Tokyo This lecture is free of charge and will be delivered in English Map to lecture venue

20:15 – 21:45 Reception Tanakaya La Mer Sanbancho 1F, 6-4 Sanbancho, Chiyoda ku, Tokyo ￥3,000 (instructions for payment will be sent on booking) Map to reception venue

Make your booking here