The 2025 Ångström Lecture

“Opening cosmic horizons: how AURA enables space astronomy now and in the future”. Dr. Heidi B. Hammel is Vice President for Science, AURA, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.

The lecture is open to all but is particularly aimed at those working or studying at the Ångström Laboratory.

Revolutions in humanity’s understanding of the cosmos are intimately linked to our astronomical tools. From Galileo’s small telescope in the early 1600s to the marvelously complex James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) now sending back data from space, the facilities we use in astronomy progressively expand our horizons in space and time. Dr. Heidi Hammel, Vice President for Science at AURA, will share the story of how her organization has taken the long view in developing and using astronomical tools like the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST. As a JWST Interdisciplinary Scientist, Dr. Hammel spent more than 20 years helping develop the science case for that observatory, and will share some of JWST’s spectacular results, ranging from galaxies at the edge of the Universe to discoveries right here in our own Solar System. She will also describe the imminent new tools of astronomy: the Roman Space Telescope and Rubin Observatory, as well as plans for the Habitable Worlds Observatory. She will end with a look to the far future, sharing ideas that AURA is starting to develop that may hold the promise to someday push our cosmic horizons to new and as-yet unexplored realms.