A leading figure from NASA’s headquarters in Washington will explore the science from the James Webb Space Telescope at Space Park Leicester next month.
Dr Mark Clampin is the Astrophysics Division Director at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SED) and will visit the University of Leicester’s £100 million science and innovation park to give a Space Park Conversations talk called ‘Science with the James Webb Space Telescope’.
Until August 2022, Dr Clampin was the Director of the Sciences and Exploration Directorate at the Goddard Space Flight Center where he served as the James Webb Space Telescope Observatory Project Scientist, and subsequently as Director of the Astrophysics Science Division and Deputy Director of SED.
Professor Martin Barstow, of Space Park Leicester and the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy, said: “Dr Clampin has had an incredible career and we feel very privileged that he’s coming to Leicester.
“Dr Clampin is passionate about the James Webb Space Telescope and has a fantastic way of sharing his knowledge with scientific, technical and general audiences.
“This is a great opportunity to learn more about this ground-breaking technology which is a giant leap forward in our quest to understand the universe and its origins.”
The first images from the £10 billion James Webb Space Telescope were released in July 2022 and included the deepest and sharpest InfraRed image of the distance universe, views of a ‘stellar nursery’ and a roaring sphere of gas around a dying star.
It is studying every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first glows after the Big Bang, the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth to the evolution of our own Solar System.
The talk follows Space Park Leicester’s regular networking event, Cosmic Coffee, and guests of both are invited to each event.
Cosmic Coffee is sponsored by the ESA Business Incubation Centre UK and will take place at 2pm on Wednesday, May 1. The event with Dr Clampin will follow at 3.30pm – both events will be held at Space Park Leicester.
To register for Cosmic Coffee, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/880206309767?aff=oddtdtcreator
To register for Space Park Conservations, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/space-park-conversations-science-with-the-james-webb-space-telescope-tickets-888355434017?aff=oddtdtcreator
For more information about Space Park Leicester, visit https://www.space-park.co.uk/ or to learn about the University of Leicester, visit https://le.ac.uk/about