Shiv S Kumar Biography
 

RINGBERG 2012 CONFERENCE (GERMANY)

Ringberg 2012 ConferenceRingberg 2012 Conference at Ringberg Castle, Bavaria, Germany (October 21-24, 2012). This conference was organized by the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany.(See MPIA's press release 2012-10-17 here).

An international conference on "50 years of Brown Dwarfs: from Theoretical Prediction to Astrophysical Studies" was held at Ringberg Castle, Bavaria, Germany on October 21-24, 2012. The conference opened on October 21, 2012 with a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Dr. Kumar's prediction of the existence of the astronomical objects currently called brown dwarfs. During the special celebration session in the evening, organized by Dr. Thomas Henning and Dr. Viki Joergens of MPIA-Heidlberg, an anniversary cake was served to the conference participants, and Dr. Kumar was asked to cut the cake.

After enjoying dinner, wine and cake, the participants gathered together to listen to celebratory talks by Dr. Gibor Basri, Dr. Ben (now Rebecca) Oppenheimer,
Dr. Kumar presenting at the Ringberg 2012 Conference
Dr. Kumar presenting an account of his theoretical discovery of brown dwarfs at the Ringberg 2012 Conference on October 22, 2012. Photo courtesy of Mark McCaughrean.
and Dr. Rafael Rebolo. These speakers were involved in the first observational detections of brown dwarfs in 1994, 32 years after Dr. Kumar's theoretical prediction of the existence of these objects. Dr. Kumar made some comments of historical interest during these very enjoyable talks by Dr. Basri, Dr. Oppenheimer, and Dr. Rebolo.

Next morning (October 22, 2012), the scientific sessions started with a talk by Dr. Kumar entitled "Stellar Evolution, Electron Degeneracy, and Theoretical Discovery of Brown Dwarfs." In this talk, Dr. Kumar presented an historical account of his theoretical work (during 1958-1962) that led to his prediction of the existence of brown dwarfs in 1962. The abstract of the paper can be viewed here, and the presentation of the talk can be viewed here
.

 
(click on photos for large views)
 

50th Anniversary Happy Birthday Cake.

Dr. Kumar cutting the first slice of the Anniversary cake.
 

Dr. Kumar, Mrs. Kumar, Dr. Basri and Dr. Jackson having celebration dinner at the Ringberg Castle.

Dr. Kumar and Dr. Viki Joergens enjoying cake and wine during celebration.

(The four photos above were taken by Anita Kumar on October 21, 2012)

 

Dr. Kumar with Drs. Joergens, Oppenheimer, Basri and Rebolo during the celebration session on October 21, 2012. Photo courtesy of Adam Burgasser.

Shiv S Kumar Biography

 
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