McDonnell Distinguished Lecture Series

Simulation of a turbulent accretion disk surrounding a non-rotating (Schwarzschild) black hole, as seen by a distant observer. Credit: Armitage and Reynolds

The “What, How, Where, and When” of Supermassive Black Holes - Christopher Reynolds

What is a black hole? If they are so black, how can they outshine whole galaxies? What impact do they have on the rest of the Universe? And where and when in the story of the Universe did supermassive black holes first emerge? These questions have engaged astrophysicists for over 50 years. Reynolds discussed the current state of knowledge on supermassive black holes, the monsters that are found at the center of essentially every galaxy in the Universe.

2024 McDonnell Distinguished Lectures will discuss supermassive black holes

2024 McDonnell Distinguished Lectures will discuss supermassive black holes

2023 Walker Distinguished Lectures will discuss bringing Mars samples back to Earth

2023 Walker Distinguished Lectures will discuss bringing Mars samples back to Earth

Past Lectures

March 2024

Exploring the Axion-Sector with X-ray Astronomy  | Professor Christopher Reynolds, University of Maryland College Park

The “What, How, Where and When” of Supermassive Black Holes  | Professor Christopher Reynolds, University of Maryland College Park

March 2023

Can Collisions Create Earth's Isotopic Cousin?  | Professor Sarah T. Stewart, University of California, Davis

Rewriting the Creation Story for the Earth and Moon  | Professor Sarah T. Stewart, University of California, Davis

March 2022

Fast Radio Bursts  | Professor Victoria Kaspi, McGill University

The Fast Radio Sky  | Professor Victoria Kaspi, McGill University

March 2021

Dark Matter in the Universe  | Professor Katherine Freese, The University of Texas at Austin

The Dark Side of the Universe  | Professor Katherine Freese, The University of Texas at Austin

March 2019

Falling dominoes: Ice sheets and sea level  | Professor Richard Alley, Pennsylvania State University

Finding the good news on energy and environment  | Professor Richard Alley, Pennsylvania State University

March 2018

The Precarious Present - Is Global Warming Inhibiting an Incipient Ice Age?  | Professor George Philander, Princeton University

The Hedgehog and the Fox - A Nelson Mandela Perspective on Global Warming  | Professor George Philander, Princeton University

March 2017

Geology Never Sleeps: Lessons from the Geological Exploration of the Pluto System  | Professor William B. McKinnon, Washington University in St. Louis

Pluto Explored! NASA's Epic Voyage to the Edge of the Solar System  | Professor William B. McKinnon, Washington University in St. Louis

March 2016

Models for Compositional Variations in the Murray Formation Mudstone, Gale Crater, Mars  | John P. Grotzinger, California Institute of Technology

A Habitable Environment in the Gale Crater on Mars  | John P. Grotzinger, California Institute of Technology

April 2015

Mercury ain't the Moon: Results from the MESSENGER mission  | Roger J. Phillips, Institute Scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder CO; Director Emeritus, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and Professor Emeritus, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis

No Denying Climate Change on Mars  | Roger J. Phillips, Institute Scientist, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder CO; Director Emeritus, McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and Professor Emeritus, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis

March 2014

The origin of Earth's volatiles  | Professor Alex Halliday, FRS, University of Oxford

The Origin of the Earth and Moon  | Professor Alex Halliday, FRS, University of Oxford

April 2013

Constraints on Grain Formation Around Carbon Stars From Laboratory Studies of Presolar Graphite  | Professor Thomas J. Bernatowicz, Washington University in St. Louis

Stardust in the Laboratory  | Professor Thomas J. Bernatowicz, Washington University in St. Louis

April 2012

Black Holes, Waves of Gravity, and other Warped Ideas of Dr. Einstein  | Clifford Will, James S. McDonnell Professor of Space Sciences

Testing General Relativity in the Strong-Field Dynamical Regime  | Clifford Will, James S. McDonnell Professor of Space Sciences

March 2011

Mysteries of the Dark Universe  | Rocky Kolb, Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics

Taking Sides on Dark Energy  | Rocky Kolb, Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics

April 2010

The Promise and Challenge of Detecting Gravitational Waves From Space  | Bernard Schutz, Director, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics

Gravitational Waves: Listening to the Music of the Spheres  | Bernard Schutz, Director, Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics

April 2009

Finding the Big Bang  | P. James E. Peebles, Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus, Princeton University

Establishing the Big Bang  | P. James E. Peebles, Albert Einstein Professor of Science Emeritus, Princeton University

March 2008

The James Webb Space Telescope: A Window to the Past  | Kathryn Flanagan, Senior Scientist and Head of James Webb Space Telescope Mission Office, Space Telescope Science Institute

X-Ray Astronomy with the Naked Eye: The Chandra High Resolution Spectrum of SNR 1E0102-72  | Kathryn Flanagan, Senior Scientist and Head of James Webb Space Telescope Mission Office, Space Telescope Science Institute

March 2007

The MESSENGER Mission to Mercury  | Sean C. Solomon, Director, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington

The Impact of Roger on Mars as a Codger: The Geophysical Evolution of Early Mars  | Sean C. Solomon, Director, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington

April 2006

The Accelerating Universe: Einstein’s Blunder Undone  | Robert P. Kirshner, Harvard College Professor of Astronomy and Clowes Professor of Science, Harvard University

April 2004

The Stardust Mission  | Donald Brownlee, Professor of Astronomy, University of Washington

April 2003

Outer space is our window on the earliest moments of creation. In the beginning…  | Michael S. Turner, Bruce V. & Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor, Departments of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics, University of Chicago

April 2002

"Extraterrestrial Life? So what?"  | Bruce Jakosky, Director, University of Colorado Center for Astrobiology