ABSTRACT

The Universe began only with hydrogen and helium. It is cosmic explosions which build up the periodic table! Astronomers have now identified several classes of cosmic explosions of which supernovae constitute the largest group. The Palomar Transient Factory was an innovative 2-telescope, and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Factory (ZTF), is a high tech project with gigantic CCD cameras and sophisticated software system, and squarely aimed to systematically find "blips and booms in the middle of the night". The speaker will talk about the great returns and surprises from this project: super-luminous supernovae, new classes of transients, new light on progenitors of supernovae, detection of gamma-ray bursts by purely optical techniques and troves of pulsating stars and binary stars. ZTF is poised to become the stepping stone for the nation's future flagship project, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

BIO

S. R. Kulkarni is the McArthur Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. Since 2006 he has been the Director of the Caltech Optical Observatories (2006-present). He is also the Director of NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NEXSCI). Kulkarni served as the Executive Officer for Astronomy from 1997-2000. In 2007 he was awarded an AD White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. In 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Radboud University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Kulkarni is the Chair of the Physical Sciences panel of the Infosys Science Foundation.Kulkarni obtained his undergradute degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and his PhD from UC Berkeley. He served a brief period as a postdoc at UC Berekely and Caltech before joining the faculty rank at Caltech in 1987. Prof. Kulkarni's primary interests are the study of compact objects (neutron stars and gamma-ray bursts), transients and varaibles, and the search for extra-solar planets through interferometeric and adaptive techniques. He is keenly interested in developing or refining astronomical methodologies. His awards include NSF's Alan T. Waterman Prize of the NSF, a fellowship from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a Presidential Young Investigator award from the NSF, the Helen B. Warner award of the American Astronomical Society, the Janksy Prize of Associated Universities, Inc and the Dan David Prize.Kulkarni was elected as Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1994), Fellow of the Royal Society of London (2001), Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2003) and Honorary Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences (2011). Just recently he was elected as external member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.