Dr. Jean-René Roy
Professor of Astronomy,
Université Laval,
Québec City

From Stonehenge to Gemini -
A Venture Between Science and Technology

From the earliest tracking of the motions of the stars during the Stone Age to the discovery of the expansion of the universe in the 20th century, astronomy has held an irresistible fascination for humanity. The quest to know the universe is also the story of the development of powerful new tools and technology to make that exploration possible. Perhaps nowhere is this relationship clearer than in the construction of the present generation of very large, ground-based optical/infrared telescopes. I will illustrate this theme by a description of the new international Gemini telescopes, two revolutionary instruments that are giving scientists from Canada and seven partner countries a new window on the universe.
 
 

Jean-René Roy, Professor of Astronomy at Université Laval, received his B.Sc. from Université de Montréal, and his M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. He began his active career in astronomy by studying stellar winds and eruptive phenomena in the Sun's atmosphre, first at Sacramento Peak Observatory, then at CalTech and in Utrecht (Holland). He came back to Canada in 1975, working as a researcher at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. In 1977, he accepted a position as Professor of Astronomy at Université Laval. His main research interests are now the evolution of spiral galaxies and the formation process of massive stars. He is also very much involved in astronomical instrumentation. Jean-René Roy has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Gemini Telescopes, and still serves as the canadian scientific advisor for the Gemini Telescopes.