The First Stars, Galaxies and Black Holes

About the lecture

When did the first stars, galaxies, and black holes form after the Big Bang? What did they look like, and how did they shape the Universe into what we see today? Answering these questions represents one of the major goals of modern extra-galactic astronomy. By peering deep into space with our foremost telescopes, astronomers can look back in time and witness their formation and early evolution.

The arrival of the James Webb Space Telescope has opened an unprecedented window into the most distant sources, enabling detailed observations across 98% of cosmic time. Early observations have revealed an infant Universe far more exotic, extreme, and remarkable than previously thought. In this lecture Guido Roberts-Borsani will describe some of the most exciting and unexpected discoveries from this extraordinary telescope, the likes of which are challenging astronomers’ understanding of the early Universe and rewriting the textbooks on galaxy formation and evolution.

About the speaker

Guido Roberts-Borsani is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Astrophysics working on the formation and evolution of the first galaxies and black holes in the Universe, with the world’s foremost space-based and ground-based telescopes. His research revolves around developing selection techniques of the most distant sources and using novel characterisation methods to unveil their underlying physics and influence on the early Universe. Prior to his position at UCL, he was a Swiss National Foundation (NSF) fellow at the University of Geneva between 2023-2024, and before that a postdoctoral scholar at UCLA from 2019-2023. He obtained his PhD from UCL in 2019.

About the chair

Richard Ellis is an astronomer and professor of Astrophysics at UCL, working on the formation and evolution of galaxies across cosmic time. A pioneer in observational cosmology, he has played a leading role in using large ground-based telescopes and space-based observatories to study galaxies in the early Universe. Prof. Ellis has held senior academic positions at institutions including the University of Cambridge, Caltech, and University College London. His research has set the foundations for many of our foremost telescopes today, and strongly influenced our current understanding of how galaxies assemble, evolve, and populate the cosmos.