Michael Way
Mike's background is in observational cosmology. He spent many nights at the high altitude optical observatories in the country of Chile in the early 1990s. Since that time he has focused his energies on applying novel statistical techniques to large area surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey that allow researchers to get a better handle on how well modern cosmological theories fit the data.
Biography
Mike is the leader of the biennial New York Workshop on Computer, Earth and Space Science. His background is mainly in the Astrophysical Sciences where he is working to find new ways to understand the multi-scale structure of our universe, modeling the atmospheres of exoplanets and applying kernel methods to new areas in Astronomy. He is also involved in interdisciplinary research with Climate Scientists, Astrobiologists, Mathematicians, Statisticians and researchers in Machine Learning and Data Mining.Education
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Ph.D. Physics 1998, University of Missouri, St. Louis, USA
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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Observational Cosmology, Computer Science, Machine Learning, Statistics
Personal Interests
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Reading Literature & History. Travel. Spending time in the countryside with family.
Websites
Books
Videos
Published: Oct 16, 2012
I discuss the complicated early history of the prediction, discovery and confirmation of Big Bang cosmology. We'll start with the early 20th century observations of Leavitt and theories of Einstein, and end up with the 2006 Nobel Prize. I will also show that some of the common wisdom today is misplaced with respect to the accolades given to various "titans" of Astronomy in this field.
Published: Oct 16, 2012
A plethora of technology advances over the past 40+ years have coalesced to drive ground-based Astronomy into directions barely imagined a generation ago. Advances in everything from materials science to information technology have made this possible. I will go through the historical record in some of these technologies and show how radically things have changed for the workaday Astronomer today and perhaps see where these technologies are taking us.
Published: Oct 16, 2012
This is a short talk given at a recent history conference I co-organized (http://www.lowell.edu/workshops/slipher) that discusses the forgotten scientists whose discoveries contributed to the legacy of Edwin Hubble.