Recent news from The Johns Hopkins University
This section contains regularly updated highlights of the news from around The Johns Hopkins
University. Links to the complete news reports from the nine schools,
the Applied Physics Laboratory and other centers and institutes are to
the left, as are links to help news media contact the Johns Hopkins
communications offices.
The speed and distance at which planets orbit their respective blazing stars can determine each planet’s fate—whether the planet remains a longstanding part of its solar system or evaporates into the universe’s dark graveyard more quickly.
In their quest to learn more about far-away planets beyond our own solar system, astronomers discovered that a medium-sized planet roughly the size of Neptune, GJ 3470b, is evaporating at a rate 100 times faster than a previously discovered planet of similar size, GJ 436b.
December 13, 2018 Tags: astronomy, David Sing, exoplanets, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, space, Space Telescope Science Institute
| Category: Physics and Astronomy
Media advisory: Background for reporters on the heat shield that will protect NASA’s Parker Solar Probe as it swoops through the solar atmosphere, less than 4 million miles from the surface of the sun.
August 8, 2018 Tags: Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, materials science, NASA, Parker Solar Probe, sun, Whiting School of Engineering
| Category: Engineering, Physics and Astronomy
Bloomberg Distinguished Professor Charles L. Bennett of Johns Hopkins University has been named a recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for his work that established the Standard Model of Cosmology – a precise physics-based description of the contents, dynamics, and shape of the universe.
December 3, 2017 Tags: astrophysics, Breakthrough Prize, cosmology, Facebook, Google, Kerry Washington, Morgan Freeman, NASA, Ron Howard, Silicon Valley, Standard Model of Cosmology, universe
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
Professor Darrell Strobel, an astrophysicist with the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, has been part of the Cassini-Huygens mission from the early planning stages and is available to speak with reporters.
September 15, 2017 Tags: Cassini, NASA, planetary atmospheres, Saturn, Titan
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
Kate Rubins, the first person to sequence DNA in space aboard the International Space Station last year, will talk about her work as a scientist and astronaut.
April 19, 2017 Tags: astronaut, DNA, International Space Station, NASA, sequencing, spacewalk
| Category: biology, Earth Science, Physics and Astronomy, Technology, Uncategorized
The universe appears to be expanding faster now than predicted by measurements of the rate as seen shortly after the Big Bang, a study led by a Johns Hopkins University scientist has found.
June 2, 2016 Tags: astrophysics, Big Bang, cosmology, Hubble constant, Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, Planck satellite, universe expansion
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
Rocketeers led by Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist Stephan R. McCandliss just launched the most sensitive instrument they’ve ever used to explore outer space, seeking clues to how galaxies grow with the birth of new stars, and how they stop growing.
December 18, 2015 Tags: FORTIS, galaxy, NASA, rocketry, sounding rocket, star formation, telescope
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
Kevin Lewis, an expert on the geology and past climate of Mars at Johns Hopkins University, is available to discuss findings published today on evidence of surface water on Mars.
September 28, 2015 Tags: Mars, Mars rover, NASA, surface water
| Category: Physics and Astronomy
Stephan McCandliss, principal investigator on one of the NASA missions studying Comet ISON as it nears death or destiny, is available to comment about the comet, what it means to scientists and what we can learn from its Thanksgiving date with the sun.
November 26, 2013 Tags: comet, FORTIS, ISON, NASA, sounding rocket, sun, Thanksgiving, White Sands Missile Range
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
The adage “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” is apt advice in a host of life’s challenges but none more timely than the launch of FORTIS, a NASA-funded sounding rocket, that took flight before dawn on November 20 from a New Mexican desert.
November 25, 2013 Tags: comet, FORTIS, ISON, NASA, solar system, sounding rocket, space, Stephan McCandliss
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
It is a mystery that has stymied astrophysicists for decades: how do black holes produce so many high-power X-rays? In a new study, astrophysicists from The Johns Hopkins University, NASA and the Rochester Institute of Technology conducted research that bridges the gap between theory and observation by demonstrating that gas spiraling toward a black hole inevitably results in X-ray emissions.
June 14, 2013 Tags: astronomy, black holes, NASA, physics, supercomputing, X-rays
| Category: Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
Johns Hopkins astrophysicists Brice Ménard and Charles L. Bennett have been appointed to the Euclid Consortium, the international team of scientists overseeing an ambitious space telescope project designed to probe the mysteries of dark energy and dark matter. NASA, a partner in the mission, recently announced their selection to the research team for Euclid.
February 12, 2013 Tags: astronomy, Brice Ménard, Charles Bennett, dark energy, dark matter, Euclid space telescope, European Space Agency, NASA
| Category: Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, Technology
The Johns Hopkins University performed $2.1 billion in medical, science and engineering research in fiscal 2011, making it the leading U.S. academic institution in total research and development spending for the 33rd year in a row, according to a new National Science Foundation ranking. The university also once again ranked first on the NSF’s separate list of federally funded research and development, spending $1.88 billion in FY2011 on research supported by NSF, NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.
November 28, 2012 Tags: APL, Applied Physics Laboratory, Department of Defense, federal expenditures, Johns Hopkins University, Jonathan Bagger, NASA, National Science Foundation, R & D
| Category: Institutional News, Uncategorized, University-Related
A proposal led by a Johns Hopkins University astrophysicist has been selected by NASA as part of a science instrument upgrade to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). The instrument, the High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera (HAWC), will provide sensitive, versatile and powerful imaging capability to the SOFIA user community. The Johns Hopkins-led investigation is one of two that will allow SOFIA, with the enhanced HAWC, to measure the structure and strength of magnetic fields in diverse objects throughout the universe, such as star-forming clouds and galaxies. This will help astronomers better understand how stars, planets and galaxies form and evolve. Johannes Staguhn of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Astrophysical Sciences will lead the team.
April 20, 2012 Tags: aerospace, Boeing 747SP, formation of planets and galaxies, Goddard Space Flight Center, HAWC, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, High-resolution Airborne Wideband Camera, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johannes Staguhn, John Grunsfeld, Johns Hopkins University's Center for Astrophysical Sciences, NASA, SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, Technology, University-Related
All three of the most highly cited scientific papers in the world published in 2011 were from an astrophysics space mission project led by a Johns Hopkins University scientist, according to Thomson Reuters’ Science Watch. The papers cite results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), a NASA spacecraft launched in 2001 that has revolutionized our knowledge of the history, composition, and geometry of the universe. The WMAP mission is led by Charles L. Bennett, Alumni Centennial Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Johns Hopkins Gilman Scholar
April 16, 2012 Tags: astrophysics, Charles L. Bennett, COBE, Comstock Prize in physics, Cosmic Background Explorer, Daniel Reich, Goddard Space Flight Center, Harvey Prize, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, John Mather, Johns Hopkins University, NASA, Peter Gruber Foundation, Science Watch, Shaw Prize, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, University-Related
Johns Hopkins engineers, recognized as experts in medical robotics, have turned their attention skyward to help NASA with a space dilemma: How can it fix valuable satellites that are breaking down or running out of fuel? One option—sending a human repair crew into space—is costly, dangerous and sometimes not even possible for satellites in a distant orbit. Another idea is now getting attention: Send robots to the rescue and give them a little long-distance human help. Johns Hopkins scientists say the same technology that allows doctors to steer a machine through delicate abdominal surgery could someday help an operator on Earth fix a faulty fuel line on the far side of the moon.
December 5, 2011 Tags: computer science, mechanical engineering, medical robots, NASA, Robotics, satellite servicing, space technology
| Category: Engineering, Medicine and Nursing, Physics and Astronomy, Student-Related News, Technology
Members of the last crew to fly aboard the Space Shuttle “Endeavour” — the second-to-the-last flight in NASA’s space shuttle program — will discuss their mission to the International Space Station from 6:30 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, August 4, at The Johns Hopkins University’s Homewood campus. Presented by the Maryland Space Grant Consortium and NASA, the event is free and open to the public. The crew will give a video presentation about the mission and answer questions from the audience in the Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy’s Schafler Auditorium, on the campus’s north end. Free parking is available in the Muller parking deck on San Martin Drive, adjacent to Bloomberg.
July 28, 2011 Tags: antimatter, astrophysicists, Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, dark energy, European Space Agency, Homewood campus events, International Space Station, Mark Kelly, Maryland Space Grant Consortium, NASA, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Schafler Auditorium, space shuttle, Space Shuttle Endeavour, spacewalks, strange matter, STS-134
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Events Open to the Public, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, University-Related
A team of astronomers, including one at the Johns Hopkins University, has uncovered a burgeoning galactic metropolis, the most distant known in the early universe. This ancient collection of galaxies presumably grew into a modern galaxy cluster similar to the massive ones seen today. The developing cluster, named COSMOS-AzTEC3, was discovered and characterized by multi-wavelength telescopes, including NASA’s Spitzer, Chandra and Hubble space telescopes, and the ground-based W.M. Keck Observatory and Japan’s Subaru Telescope. Johannes Staguhn, associate research scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Astrophysical Sciences in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, contributed data to uncover the nature of a main cluster member.
January 12, 2011 Tags: black hole, Chandra, COSMOS-AzTEC3, GISMO, Goddard Space Flight Center, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hubble, Institut de Radioastronomie Millimetrique, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, Johannes Staguhn, Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University's Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Jon Morse, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, modern galaxy cluster, NASA, Peter Capak, proto-cluster, Spitzer, Subaru Telescope, W. M. Keck Observatory
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Physics and Astronomy
The Johns Hopkins University performed $1.85 billion in medical, science and engineering research in fiscal 2009, making it the leading U.S. academic institution in total research and development spending for the 31st year in a row, according to a new National Science Foundation ranking. The university also once again ranked first on the NSF’s separate list of federally funded research and development, spending $1.58 billion in FY2009 on research supported by NSF, NASA, the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense.
September 29, 2010 Tags: Applied Physics Laboratory, Department of Defense, federally financed R&D, Johns Hopkins University, Lloyd Minor, NASA, National Science Foundation, NIH, R&D, research and development
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Engineering, Environment, Homewood Campus News, Institutional News, Medicine and Nursing, Natural Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, Public Health, Social Sciences, Technology, University Administration, University-Related
NASA astronaut John Grunsfeld has walked in space eight times and logged more than 800 hours floating in that deep, dark void over the course of five space flights, including three to service the Hubble Space Telescope. Now, he is about to explore a new frontier: The Johns Hopkins University. On July 1, the man nicknamed “the Hubble Repairman” became a research professor in the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences. While at Johns Hopkins, Grunsfeld, who is deputy director at the nearby Space Telescope Science Institute, will continue his research in astrophysics and the development of new technology and systems for space astronomy.
July 8, 2010 Tags: Adler Planetarium, astronaut, Bloomberg Center for Physics and Astronomy, Car Talk, Daniel Reich, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hubble Space Telescope, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Johnson Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Mir Space Station, Mount McKinley, NASA, National Public Radio, NOVA, PBS, space shuttle, Space Telescope Science Institute, Third Small Astronomy Satellite
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Homewood Campus News, Institutional News, Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized, University-Related
Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Charles Bennett has spent his career studying the heavens, so it seems only fitting that he recently took his place among stars of another kind: those inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame. Bennett, who recently shared the $1 million Shaw Prize in astronomy for his groundbreaking work in determining the age, shape and composition of the universe, now shares this honor with 59 other distinguished University of Maryland luminaries, including Muppet creator Jim Henson, television writer and comedian Larry David, former NFL player Norman “Boomer” Esiason and American choreographer Liz Lerman. He was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame on June 5.
June 29, 2010 Tags: Charles L. Bennett, Comstock Prize in physics, Harvey Prize, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Henry Draper Medal, Johns Hopkins, NASA, National Academy of Sciences, Peter Gruber Foundation, Shaw Prize, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Institutional News, Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized
