Long before he was simulating the early universe, Illinois astronomy professor Kirk Barrow spent a summer teaching himself quantum physics from a borrowed textbook.At the time,...
What happens at the end of science? Philosophy?It is the kind of question that can pause a conversation. Not because science fails, and not because philosophy is waiting at the edge of the laboratory to correct it, but because every discipline, if you follow it far enough, begins to run into its...
LIKE MILLIONS ofother kids, Charlie Young, CS+astronomy & statistics ’20, dreamed of being a big-league baseball player—and never made it past high school ball. "Fortunately, I was better at computer science." And by the time...
Join astronomy student Shreya as she interviews professor Leslie Looney on the Main Quad at the University of Illinois.This video is part of the 940 Feet series, where College of LAS students and professors give...
Astronomy professor Leslie Looney recently appeared on The UIUC Talkshow for a wide-ranging conversation about what astronomy really is—and what it means to explore a universe that’...
Patrick Aleo (PhD, astronomy ’24) still remembers the first time he looked through a telescope. He was in elementary school when his parents bought one for his brother, and one night, he took a turn at the eyepiece.“I looked at the full moon and...
When Jiayin Dong walks across the University of Illinois campus this fall, it will feel familiar and entirely new.Dong, an incoming assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy, is returning to Illinois as a faculty...
From flunking physics to commanding sailors and scanning the stars, Illinois alumnus Grant Miller’s journey is anything but ordinary. What started as a childhood fascination with the cosmos and a rocky freshman year at the U of I eventually led to a thriving dual career as an astronomy professor...
When Decker French learned she had been named a Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Scholar, it was a complete surprise.“I didn’t know that I was nominated,” she said. “So it was a very pleasant surprise! It is incredibly...
