A new look at the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope

Building upon the heritage and space-science excellence of the University of Leicester, Space Park is a collaborative community of industry, academics and students working together to drive growth in space and space-enabled sectors.We undertake world-leading research, impactful innovation and offer a wide-range of skills and educational development opportunities.

Space Park Leicester (University of Leicester)

Space Park Leicester is pleased to present the seventh George Fraser Memorial Lecture for a behind-the-scenes look at the JWST observatory.

National Space Centre

Space Park Conversations

Space Park Conversations is the free public seminar series based at Space Park Leicester.

This lecture series is in memory of Professor George Fraser, Director of the Space Research Centre at the University of Leicester (2002 - 2014), who died unexpectedly on 18th March 2014.*﻿** Following the lecture, all guests are invited to a drinks reception immediately afterwards at nearby Space Park Leicester ***The James Webb Space Telescope is one of the most ambitious and powerful space observatories ever constructed. Designed to image and analyze the infrared light of the universe from a vantage point 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, it is both an engineering marvel and scientific discovery machine. New insights it has provided about the properties of planets in our Solar System, unique measurements of the atmospheres of planets orbiting nearby stars, and exquisite views of galaxies across the entire expanse of the cosmos are already changing the way we think about how planets, stars, and galaxies formed and evolved over time. In this talk Dr. Ken Sembach will share some behind-the-scenes background about the history and commissioning of the observatory as well as describe some of its recent scientific discoveries that are taking astronomical research in new directions.Following Ken Sembach's lecture, Brown and White dwarf astronomer &amp; STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellow Dr Sarah Casewell and Planetary Scientist &amp; STFC JWST Fellow, Dr Henrik Melin, both from the University of Leicester, will give short talks on their use and study of Webb data.

Dr. Ken Sembach is a high-profile, experienced space scientist. He was Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute for seven years an 800-person non-profit multi-disciplinary organization that operates both the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, a role from which we recently stepped down.Ken has 20+ years of experience in leading ground-breaking space missions, within which he has managed &gt;$1B in government contracts and has overseen the allocation of more than $300M in grants awarded to the scientific community to exploit the data. He transformed STScI into a multi-mission operations center and oversaw the enormous effort required to commission and $10B James Webb Space Telescope during the COVID-19 pandemic and implement the operational phase. Under his leadership and commitment to employee health, the institute successfully transitioned to hybrid work while maintaining all operations and continued advancement of scientific discovery with Hubble.Ken is a champion for science. He initiated and implemented a ground-breaking observing program to obtain Hubble’s deepest images of the universe (the Hubble Frontier Fields) and Hubble’s largest observing program, a systematic survey of young stars to serve as a foundational dataset for decades of study. He selected the first year of Webb science observations and instituted Early Release Science programs that are yielding new discoveries daily.Leading by example, Ken is a strong advocate for workforce development and workplace civility. His commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is widely recognized. Under his leadership STScI became an example for other organizations to emulate. His efforts extend into the community and include the establishment of dual-anonymous peer review and initiatives to translate outreach materials into Spanish.Ken is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, as well as public venues. He has published more than 170 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and made more than 270 conference presentations. He has been recognized by the American Astronomical Society for his outstanding research and was awarded the NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal for his efforts related to Hubble Servicing Mission 4 in 2009.

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