2018 SARA Western Conference Keynote Speaker: Dr. Carl Heiles

Dr. Carl Heiles
University of California at Berkeley
Professor Emeritus of Astronomy

Dr. Heiles specializes in interstellar matter, radio astronomy, and numerical analysis.  His research interests include the observational specification of the physical state of diffuse interstellar gas, especially the magnetic field and the HI/H2 transition. A recent second interest is the measurement of electron density and magnetic fields in Coronal Mass Ejections of the Sun and other stars. To these ends he has worked with collaborators mainly in the U.S., China, and Australia and uses mainly the Arecibo telescope, the Green Bank telescope, the upcoming Chinese FAST telescope, and the Australian ATNF.

Dr. Heiles was born and raised in Toledo, Ohio.  He did his undergraduate work at Cornell Univeristy in Engineering Physics, and took his PhD at Princeton in Astrophysical Sciences.  He has taught at Berkeley from the summer of 1966 onwards, with some time out at Arecibo Observatory, Boulder, and Green Bank.

Dr. Heiles will speak on two of his projects, one that looked at the Messenger satellite as it went behind the sun and one monitoring the time variability of OH masers in OH/IR stars.