[Physics-talks] Special CECI Seminar Wednesday, 05/20/2026 Come see Prof. Di Li (Tsinghua University)

[Dauda Gbujama]

Hello Everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend. Please see the Special CECI Seminar details:

Title: Galileo, Hertz and the Time Frontier
Speaker: Di Li (Tsinghua University)
Time: 4:00-5:00pm, Wednesday, 05/20/2026
Venue: Reading Room, Physics Building

Abstract: Modern physics and astronomy both originated from Galileo.
Galileo's usage of telescopes started optical astronomy. Hertz invented the
first antenna and demonstrated the wave-particle duality of light. These
developments give rise to radio astronomy and giant dishes. The Parkes
multibeam system transformed single-dish radio astronomy, delivering the
largest haul of new pulsars, definitive HI galaxy catalogues, and the
standard HI maps of the Southern sky. These landmark surveys had to be
conducted separately, due to the conflicting observation requirements. We
invented the high-cadence CAL technique, in which the calibration signal is
injected at the sampling rate and facilitate, for the first time,  truly
commensal pulsar and spectral-line surveys. In 2020, FAST succeeded the
Arecibo to become the largest antenna ever built. Implemented on FAST with
drift-scan mode with high-cadence CAL, the Commensal Radio Astronomy FAST
Survey (CRAFTS) has discovered more than 230 pulsars and 10 FRBs, and
released over 5,000 square degrees of best-calibrated HI images. I will
report a few science highlights from CRAFTS, in the context of surveying
the radio sky. CRAFTS' high cadence sampling of the radio sky also gives
rise to the concept of the "time frontier." I coined this term to represent
the quantum foundation of the Universe that is to be revealed by exploring
extreme transients. Hypothetical considerations will be given to possible
lines of investigations.

Brief Bio: Dr. Li is an astronomer, Chair Professor at Tsinghua University,
and Head of its Department of Astronomy. He previously served as Chief
Scientist of the FAST telescope and pioneered several observing and
data-analysis techniques that led to major discoveries, including the first
detection of interstellar molecular oxygen, the largest sample of fast
radio burst events, and the slowest pulsar found in globular clusters. He
received the Marcel Grossmann Award for his groundbreaking contributions to
the development of highly sensitive radio telescopes and innovations in
characterizing the dynamic universe.

Dr. Li has served on the Steering Committee of the Australia Telescope
National Facility, the Science and Engineering Advisory Committee of the
Square Kilometre Array, and the advisory panel of the Breakthrough Listen
initiative. He earned his Ph.D. from Cornell University and previously held
positions at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.


Thank you,
Dauda Gbujama
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