Professor Fegan of University College Dublin is a distinguished physicist, who has had a long association with the Whipple and Veritas research collaborations centered at the Smithsonian observation site near Tucson, Arizona. He was one of the founders of the field of TeV gamma-ray astronomy using the air-Cherenkov technique.


He has published over 150 papers in refereed journals and over 200 papers in conference proceedings. He is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the Royal Irish Academy, and has received awards including the President's Research Award (UCD).

Professor Fegan was on campus during the period from August 29 to October 31. During that period, he met with interested students and faculty and offered a short course in astrophysics of eight week duration.

Physics 340.01 - Astrophysics
Reg#: 55851

Modern astrophysics has come of age with the advent of space exploration and technology which has given rise to a proliferation of new observational techniques, spanning the electromagnetic spectrum from radio waves to high-energy gamma rays. We have come to a much deeper understanding of the workings of the planetary system, stars, galaxies, and other cosmic structures, as well as neutron stars, quasars, black holes, etc.

This course was intended to give students a practical understanding of contemporary astrophysics. Using gravity as the unifying theme, topics were introduced descriptively. The course included formal lectures, workshop problem-solving, and some computational exercises.

Prerequisite: PHY232. Two credits.