Prof. Dr. Heino Falcke, Radboud University, Nijmegen

[Address, Positions, Publications, Press Releases, Research Interests ]

This page is OUTDATED! Please visit my new pages:

Personal webpage heinofalcke.org

University webpage Heino Falcke

University page on our blackhole research

Heino Falcke

Professor of Astroparticle Physics and Radio Astronomy
Department of Astronomy, Institute for Mathematics, Astrophysics and Particle Physics (IMAPP), Radboud University Nijmegen

Visiting Scientist
Max-Planck-Institut für Radioastronomie
Heino Falcke
(Photography Lars Bähren)
Image of Heino Falcke

Address:
Afdeling Sterrenkunde
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
Faculteit NWI
Postbus 9010
6500 GL Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Visitor Address:
Heijendaalseweg 135 (Room HG 02.725)
6525 AJ Nijmegen

Phone & Email:
Tel: +31 24 3652020 (office)
Fax: +31 24 3652807
Email: H.Falcke(at-sign)astro.ru.nl [(at-sign)=@]

Management Support:
Amanda Schut
Tel: +31 24 3652080
Email: A.Schut(at-sign)astro.ru.nl [(at-sign)=@]

Short Curriculum Vitae:

2007: Full Professor of Astroparticle Physics and Radio Astronomy, Radboud University, Nijmegen
2003: Senior Scientist & International Project Scientist LOFAR at ASTRON, Dwingeloo
2003: Substitute Professor (C3-Lehrstuhlvertretung), I. Physikalischen Institut der Universität zu Köln
2002: "Bijzonder Hoogleraar" (adjunct professor) in High-Energy Astrophysics at the University of Nijmegen
2001: Venia Legendi in astrophysics and "Privatdozent" (private lecturer) at the University of Bonn
1999: Staff scientist at the MPIfR, Bonn
1999: Visiting Professor, Steward Observatory, Tucson, Arizona
1997: DFG Stipendiary (Habilitationsstipendium)
1995: Research Associate at the University of Maryland
1994: Max-Planck Stipendiary in the Optical Interferometry group of the MPIfR
1992: Research assistant, PhD studies (advisor Prof. P. L. Biermann) at the MPIfR and University of Bonn

Honors:

2000: Ludwig-Biermann-prize of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (AG)
2006: Visiting Miller Professorship Award, University of California, Berkeley
2006: Academy Award of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (former Prussian Academy of Sciences)
2008: European Research Council Advanced Grant (3.5 MEuro, Wikipedia)
2011: NWO Spinoza Award (highest NL science award, 2.5 MEuro, Wikipedia)
2013: ERC Synergy Grant (14 MEuro, ERC explanation)
2014: Member Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW)

Research Interests:

Shadow of Black Holes, Event Horizon Telescope, Radio Emission from Cosmic Rays, low-frequency radio astronomy (LOFAR), radio transients and surveys, SETI, black holes, Galactic Center (Sgr A*), active galactic nuclei (AGN), Seyfert and LINER galaxies, unified schemes of AGN, compact radio cores, radio jets, H2O megamasers, X-ray binaries, accretion disks, high energy emission, compact radio emission in LINERs and LLAGN, proper motions in the local group.

For more details see the research page of the radio astronomy and astroparticle physics group.

Space Exploration

Over the last couple of years, I have become engaged in the exploration of space, motivated by the possibility to put a LOFAR-like radiotelescope on the moon (see also ESA Space Exploration, ESA Exploration conference, Berlin) and worked as consultant to ESA and EADS. I am member of the Definition Team of ESA's first Moon Lander study (phase B1). Since summer 2009 I am chaiperson of the Working group "Astronomy from the Moon" of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

Experiments & Collaborations:

Media appearance

An list of some press releases together with a few links can be found here. A few old TV clips are available from German TV: Moon Mission/Tagesthemen/ARD (DivX/AVI, MPEG4/AVI), Köpfe des neuen Milleniums/Nano/3Sat (MPG). Some more background on a live TV-Experiment we conducted in a Saturday evening show with the Medicina Radio Telescope is available here: Hintergründe zum TV-Live-Experiment auf Pro 7

Conferences:

Sometimes I feel like organizing scientific conferences and workshops. Here are some of them:
  1. The Modern Radio Universe 2013, Bonn
  2. From stars to black holes: mm-VLBI with ALMA and other telescopes, ESO, Garching, June 27-28, 2012
  3. Astrophysics in the LOFAR era, 23 - 27 April 2007, Emmen (NL)
  4. Towards a European Infrastructure for Lunar Observatories Bremen II, November 23-24, 2006
  5. Towards a European Infrastructure for Lunar Observatories Bremen, March 22-23, 2005
  6. The Central 100 Parsecs - Galactic Center Workshop, Hawaii, Nov. 3-8, 2002
  7. "Active Black Holes" - Splinter Meeting at the Astronomische Gesellschaft Meeting, Berlin, Sep. 26, 2002
  8. Circular Polarisation from Relativistic Jet Sources, Amsterdam July 2002
  9. DPG School for Physics "Galactic Black Hole 2001"
  10. "The Central Parsecs of the Milky Way" - Galactic Center Workshop, Tucson 1998

Pretty Pictures:

I have put a few pretty pictures from our HST observations of Seyfert galaxies on this webpage. There is also a Web-Slideshow about the black hole in the Galactic Center with many images and animations. You can also check out the materials available through the "Year of Physics", "Physics of the Month", and my little contribution to the latter. Quite a while ago I also collected a small collection of Astronomical Images for public outreach talks.

Press Releases:

There are a number of press releases about our work that you can find here.

Teaching (outdated):

Among others I am teaching a course on Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and Black Holes. See also the more recent page in Nijmegen. In the past I co-organized a DPG summer school on Astrophysics and Gravitation (Galactic Black Hole 2001) and taught at the VLBI Summer school in Castel San Pietro Terme (Bologna). Frequently I give public lectures on the black hole in the Milky Way ("Das Schwarze Loch im Herzen der Milchstraße").

Publications:

A list of my scientific publications can be found here.

I was co-founder and editor of the Galactic Center Newsletter (unitl 2002).

Moreover, you can find (more or less) popular science article on jets (in German, requires some knowledge of astronomy and physics) and on the shadow of the black hole in the Milky Way I have written for "Sterne und Weltraum". A draft of a popular article on LOFAR (in German) is also available, as well as LOFAR article in the German version of Scientific American (July 2008, Spektrum der Wissenschaften).

Private Stuff:

A few times a year I preach in our local church (check the schedule) and if there is a lot of time left I fly ultralight airplanes of the type Remos G3 from a small nearby gras field. My sons play football (soccer, Fussball), which I try to watch when possible: 1. Jugend-Fussballschule (JFS) Köln Talent-Team 98 (DFB Regionalliga West), DJK Viktoria Frechen (A-Junioren Mittelrheinliga), and some software to keep my agenda up-to-date: fussball2csv.

This webpage is maintained and edited by Heino Falcke.

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