540 search results for “stars” in the Public website
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Join us at the Open Day on Ocotber 28!
On Sunday 28 October, the annual open day of the Old Observatory in Leiden takes place. During this day everyone can visit the Old Observatory for free and enjoy activities in this historic building.
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ARTificial Intelligence Lab offers residency at Leiden Observatory
The European ARTificial Intelligence Lab is now offering artists working with Artificial Intelligence the chance for a residency at the Leiden Observatory and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Entries are possible until 22 July 2020
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Four Rubicon grants for Leiden researchers
Four young Leiden researchers have been awarded a Rubicon grant to conduct research abroad. They will be working in Germany, the UK and the US studying such topics as the origin of galaxies and risk behaviour in young people.
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Incentive for research on exoplanets and free will
Two Leiden scientists - Ignas Snellen and Bernhard Hommel - have been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant. The grant will fund their research over the coming five years on exoplanets and free will.
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Final weeks: Above and Beyond
January is the final month of our temporary exhibition 'Above and Beyond: Making Sense of the Universe for 100 Years'. You can visit every weekend until Jauary 26th.
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Join us at the Open Day on Ocotber 28!
On Sunday 28 October, the annual open day of the Old Observatory in Leiden takes place. During this day everyone can visit the Old Observatory for free and enjoy activities in this historic building.
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Dark matter with a hint of Leiden shines at Dublin gallery
A glittering visualisation of dark matter by Dutch artist Thijs Biersteker is on display in the Science Gallery at Trinity College Dublin. The installation – ‘Dark Distortions’ – was inspired by Euclid, a forthcoming ESA mission to study the mysterious nature of dark matter. Leiden astronomer Henk Hoekstra…
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Ewine van Dishoeck in Board of Trustees Institute for Advanced Study
The Institute for Advanced Study has appointed astronomer and chemist Ewine Fleur van Dishoeck to its Board of Trustees, effective 5 May, 2018.
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New release: binary systems | Richard Barrett
Binary systems, consists of five electronic compositions, in each of which Richard Barrett worked with a specially made recording from an improvising instrumentalist to produce a new kind of compositional collaboration: Daryl Buckley (electric lap steel guitar), Ivana Grahovac (cello), Lori Freedman…
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The EPIC Alliance joins forces to combat antibiotic resistance
No, this isn’t about a Star Wars Alliance that wants to suppress The Resistance. Rather, the EPIC Alliance brings together scientific experts from seven countries to address the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. Leiden professor Nathaniel Martin is part of the 11-member consortium.
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Veni grants for 6 young researchers of Humanities
During the next three years, 6 promising researchers from the Faculty of Humanities who have just been awarded their PhDs will be able to further develop their research ideas funded by a Veni grant from the NWO. A total of 147 Veni grants were awarded of which 14 went to researchers at Leiden Univer…
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Inmates get a chance to peek at the night sky
If you walk along the Hooglandse Kerkgracht in the coming months, you will see a metal box completely out of tune with rest of the landscape. It seems to have come from 'elsewhere'. The box is the results of a collaboration between the Old Observatory and incarcerated minors.
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Solar telescope officially unveiled in Old Observatory
After nearly 70 years, the Leiden Observatory has a new telescope. A crowdfunding action in March brought in the 20,000 euros required to build a solar telescope. On 19 September Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker officiated at the opening.
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Ewine van Dishoeck receives the Jules Janssen Prize 2020
The French Astronomical Society SAF (Société Astronomique de France) has awarded its international astronomy prize, the Jules Janssen Prize, to Leiden professor and IAU president Ewine van Dishoeck for her scientific achievements.
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4 Vici awards for Leiden researchers
Chemist Alexander Kros and astronomer Joop Schaye are two of the four Leiden researchers who have been awarded a Vici as part of NWO's Innovation Research Incentives scheme. They each have 1.5 million euros to set up a research group and employ PhD candidates.
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Brand new exhibition open for visit: Above and Beyond
Starting April 13 a brand new exhibition is open for visit, titled 'Above and Beyond: Making Sense of the Universe for 100 Years
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Four Vici grants for Leiden University researchers
Four researchers from Leiden University have been awarded prestigious Vici grants the Dutch Research Council (NWO) has announced. The honoured applications are from researchers at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leiden Observatory, the LUMC and the Faculty of Archaeology.
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Veni grants for 25 Leiden researchers
From molecular ping-pong to cassava in the Amazon, and from extraterrestrial life to special antibodies. Twenty-five researchers from Leiden University have been awarded a Veni grant from the NWO. A grant of up to 250,000 euros will give them the opportunity to further elaborate their own ideas over…
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Periphery Matters: A Cultural Biography of Peking Opera in Hong Kong
Pui Lun Chan defended his thesis on 12 September 2017
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Awards and Grants 2018
An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2018, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.
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Data Science
The ability to collect and interpret huge quantities of data has become indispensable to society and academia. Leiden University is a knowledge and expertise centre for data science that places the emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.
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Hall of Fame 2022
In 2022, many of our staff and students won fantastic prizes and were awarded important research grants.
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Awards and Grants 2019
An overview of awards and prizes granted to our staff and students in 2019, as well as special appointments and royal distinctions.
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Student in war time
Jacques Waisvisz (98) is one of our oldest living alumni. As a Jewish student in the Second World War, he was forbidden from completing his studies. How does he look back at that time, and what was life like afterwards? ‘No one thought that the situation here would become so bad.’
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Leiden astronomers launch biggest space-ice database ever: ‘A kind of phone book, but for ice’
It is the largest database for space ice yet: The Leiden Ice Database for Astrochemistry: LIDA. Created by astrophysicists at the Leiden Observatory, LIDA includes not only hundreds of measurement data, but also software to examine astronomical observations and prepare new measurements with the James…
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In memoriam Harold V.J. Linnartz 1965 – 2023: Unlocking the Chemistry of the Heavens
With great sadness we share the news that Prof. Harold Linnartz passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Sunday 31 December 2023. We are all in shock, and our thoughts are with his wife and children, other family, and friends. Harold was at the heart of our institute, as a researcher, as a supervisor,…
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Rave reviews of anniversary exhibition 'Global Imaginations'
The Dutch press has given the anniversary exhibition in the Leiden Meelfabriek some rave reviews: ‘Global Imaginations is amusing and confrontational.’ The exhibition celebrates the 440th anniversary of Leiden University and can be seen until 5 October.
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Leiden University celebrates curiosity at 449th Dies Natalis
How has evolution shaped our curiosity? And how does that curiosity ensure that we now have the technological ability to discover whether we are alone in the universe? This was all covered during the celebration of Leiden University’s 449th Dies Natalis.
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Planetary Atmospheres and the Search for Signs of Life Beyond Earth
Lecture
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ERC Advanced Grant for six Leiden researchers
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded an Advanced Grant to six Leiden researchers. It awards these significant grants to established principal investigators for ground-breaking, high-risk research.
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Weighing heavenly bodies based on bending light
Many astronomers suspect that most of the matter in the universe is invisible. So how can you weigh dark matter if you can't actually see it? Professor Henk Hoekstra is looking for a solution. Inaugural lecture 25 June.
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Uncovering galaxy evolution and the nature of dark matter
Dark matter represents around eighty per cent of the total mass in the Universe. Yet, we still don't really know what it's made of. Astronomer Pavel Mancera Piña is looking for answers. With a Veni grant from NWO and the most advanced telescopes, such as the James Webb Space Telescope, he will investigate…
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The meaning of art decorations
Geometrical patterns serving as decorations do more than just that; they always have a meaning, according to art historian Arthur Crucq. Doctoral defence 17 May.
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Christiaan Huygens episode Het Klokhuis recorded at Leiden Observatory
The Klokhuis dedicates a special episode to Leiden alumnus and famous scientist Christiaan Huygens. Part of the episode was recorded at the Leiden Observatory. Leiden researchers also helped shape the episode, which debuts on Tuesday 2 November.
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Tropical bananaquits lose song quality in the city
I think we should go this way. This way! THIS! WAY!! Making yourself heard in a city can be difficult. That is not only the case for humans, but birds seem to be hindered by urban noise as well. Researcher Hans Slabbekoorn of Leiden University already showed that great tits in Leiden communicate differently…
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Tolkien and fiction-based religions
Markus Altena Davidsen’s PhD dissertation is the first major study of Tolkien Religion. In it, he analyses the religion that is based on the stories by acclaimed British fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien. He also discusses how fiction itself can become religious. Davidsen will defend his dissertation on…
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Our year on social media
It’s been a turbulent, bizarre and extraordinary year, 2020. Coronavirus turned the lives of everyone at our University upside down. Out teaching, research and all the events that are held in a year: nothing was the same as before. That this affected all of us is clear from the highlights and many reactions…
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A YouTube channel for exoplanet researchers
Professor Ignas Snellen has developed an online platform where exoplanet researchers can post videos about their work: exoplanet-talks.org. ‘For young researchers in particular it’s a way to bring their research to people’s attention.’
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Statistical ‘rockstar’ Brad Efron opens Leiden statistics centre
He is said to be one of the greatest living statisticians. Bradley Efron gave a lecture in Marekerk and opened LUXs, the Leiden University Center for Statistical Science, the first university statistics centre in the Netherlands.
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Ecologist Michiel Veldhuis is the Discoverer of the Year 2020
Michiel Veldhuis received the most public votes for the C.J. Kok Public Award and may therefore call himself Discoverer of the Year. Veldhuis researches how climate change affects savannah ecosystems in Africa and how we can protect them.
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Elena Maria Rossi continues her search for the origins of the largest black holes, but now as a professor
Elena Maria Rossi is fascinated by black holes. Her appointment as a professor was a long-held wish, partly because there are so few female professors in her field. ‘My appointment is also a milestone for the Leiden Observatory.’
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Go ahead for Dark Matter experiment
CERN has approved the construction and operation of SND@LHC, a neutrino detector at the Large Hadron Collider. It's a precursor for SHiP, a detector meant to detect dark matter. Leiden physicist Alexey Boyarsky is one of the initiators of both SHiP and SND@LHC.
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The sky is not the limit: 230 000 people reached by Leiden University educational space project
Science education project Space Awareness engaged 230,000 people in 68 countries with the excitement and challenges of space sciences and technologies. After three years, the project coordinated by Leiden Observatory came to an end in March and has now been evaluated.
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Let the sun shine in Leiden!
The Leiden Observatory is starting a crowdfunding campaign to raise enough money to construct a new telescope.
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Leiden project wins international astronomy engagement award
The online summer programme Space in Your Living Room by Leiden Observatory has won the first prize ‘Most Innovative Event’ of the Astronomy@Home Awards from the International Astronomical Union. In July and August 2020, participants could for example talk to real astronauts and imagine life forms in…
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Sustained picture of energy consumption at Leiden University
The energy and water consumption and CO2 footprint of all buildings at Leiden University can now be seen on its new Duurzaam in Beeld website. ‘We do a lot about sustainability,’ says Jeroen Waijenberg, Sustainability and Energy Coordinator at the University’s Real Estate Directorate. ‘But our efforts…
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Shedding light on the dark side of the universe
It must be there. We just cannot see it: mysterious dark matter and dark energy in the universe. Henk Hoekstra is one of the many cosmologists who would love to know what exactly these substances consist of. He has received a European research grant of 1.3 euro million to find out.
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How cuteness dominates Japanese culture
Modern Japanese culture can best be described in one word: cute. Hello Kitty, the most important symbol of cuteness, can be found in all layers of society. Leiden Japanologists Ivo Smits and Kasia Cwiertka put together a volume of articles on this curious phenomenon.
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It takes two (or more) to build a telescope
How do stars and galaxies form? What is dark matter? To answer these and other questions, we need increasingly large telescopes. And to build these, we need international partnerships. A series on the impact of collaboration.
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Gerard van Westen: ‘My first 100 days as a SAILS Professor in Leiden’
SAILS Professor Gerard van Westen tells us about his first 100 days 'in the office'.