Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen

Professor in Astronomy at Chalmers University of Technology

Membership period 20142019

I am an astronomer and conducts research in galaxy formation and evolution. To understand why our home galaxy, the Milky Way, and its neighbours appear as they do today, I investigate very distant galaxies in the early universe. Thanks to the finite speed of light, one looks back in time when looking at distant objects and thereby also peer into the early times of the Universe. I focus on how galaxies grow during the first two-three billion years after the Big Bang, which is the beginning of the Universe 13.8 billion years ago. Using the new, very large telescopes, e.g. the revolutionary millimetre-wavelength telescope ALMA in Chile, I work towards understanding how star formation affects and is affected by galaxy evolution.

IMAGES

Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen Foto: Robert Cumming, OSO

Click for high resolution image. Photo: Robert Cummings/Onsala Space Observatory

Kirsten Kraiberg Knudsen Photo: Markus Marcetic

Photo: Markus Marcetic (click for larger image)

IN BRIEF

Born: 1976
Family: Married, two children
Interests: Family, literature, classic music, astronomy and science.

Young Academy of Sweden
c/o The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Box 50005
SE-104 05 Stockholm
Sweden

+ 46 (0)8 673 9500
info@sverigesungaakademi.se

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