Nobel laureate and NASA astrophysicist John C. Mather to speak at UTSA in April

Mather's talks are representative of UTSA's growing reputation as a hub for physical sciences and astronomy and reaffirm the university's space-related expertise, research programs and community engagement.

Mather's talk on April 4, "Opening the Infrared Treasure Chest with JWST," will focus on the James Webb Space Telescope, including its launch and development, and its use in explaining the origin stories of distant galaxies.

Space science leaders around the world use the JWST to produce images of galaxies, active galactic nuclei, star-forming regions and planets. Mather will explain why astronomers study infrared wavelengths, and he will share the latest scientific space discoveries.

The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at the Main Building Auditorium (MB 0.104) on the UTSA Main Campus.

On Friday, April 5, Mather will be the next guest speaker in the UTSA Department of Physics and Astronomy seminar series.

Mather's presentation, "Discoveries with the JWST, and what comes next," will provide technical details about the discoveries the JWST has made in relation to galaxies, stars, black holes and the search for signs of life. He will also connect the JWST's results to cosmological predictions, discuss the effects of cosmic dark matter and dark energy, and consider the future of astronomy.

The seminar is open to UTSA students majoring in physics and astronomy. The location of the talk is still being determined.

Mather hopes students will gain an understanding of where they came from, how the expanding universe produced planets like Earth, and what's next for astronomy.

As a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Mather led the proposal efforts for the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. With the COBE team, he confirmed the expanding universe model to extraordinary accuracy and helped cement the big bang theory of the universe. The COBE team made the first map of the hot and cold spots in the background radiation, the spots which nucleated the formation of galaxies.

Mather and Smoot earned the Nobel Prize in 2006 for their work using the COBE satellite to provide evidence of the big bang theory.

Mather received his bachelor's degree in physics from Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania and his doctorate in physics from the University of California, Berkeley.

The upcoming total solar eclipse, the chance to share this phenomenon with the public and students, and the opportunity to reconnect with old friends was an opportunity that Mather could not pass up.

"I have friends and colleagues at UTSA, and I've been hoping to come back to visit," said Mather. "And of course, there's an eclipse, one of the most glorious and mysterious sights we will ever witness."

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