The cosmic origin of gold has fascinated humans for millennia. In this talk, Professor of Astronomy Edo Berger will explore the long-standing question of how gold (and other rare elements) are created in the universe, showing that this process is intimately connected to the collision of neutron stars (the remnants of powerful supernova explosions) — and the production of gravitational waves. Edo Berger has been a professor of astronomy at Harvard since 2008. He was previously a joint Hubble and Carnegie-Princeton postdoctoral fellow, and received his PhD from Caltech in 2004. Berger's research focuses on a wide range of astrophysical explosions and high-energy phenomena, including gamma-ray bursts, supernova explosion, tidal disruption events, and gravitational wave events. This work is based on observations across the electromagnetic spectrum using observatories around the world and in space, as well as on machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. Berger also serves as science advisor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard. The Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian sponsors Observatory Nights on the third Thursday of select months. Observatory Nights feature a nontechnical lecture intended for high-school age and older audiences but children are also welcome. This semester's events will be live streamed on the CfA's Facebook page. |