Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics

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The Dunlap Institute (DI) was established on the St. George Campus in 2008, as a centre for the development of innovative astronomical instruments and observational methods. It was created from the proceeds of the sale of the David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) in Richmond Hill, and carries the Dunlap name and bequest into the 21st century. Professor Peter G. Martin, as Chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Director of DDO in 1999, began discussions with the Dunlap family, and served as Interim Director of DI. Professor James R. Graham became Director in 2010. In 2009, the DI began by appointing several outstanding post-doctoral fellows, whose research had immediate impact. A second faculty member, Professor Shelley Wright, arrived in 2012, and a third is expected in 2013.

As of 2012, the DI has about a dozen research projects, in instrumentation, and in observational astronomy. These include an Arctic Observatory to search for planets around other stars, and spectrographs which can be used on the world's largest telescopes, including the proposed Thirty-Metre Telescope. DI faculty are imaging and studying planets around other stars, probing "dark matter" in galaxies, and looking back in time (by looking outward in distance) to the youngest stars and galaxies in the universe.

The DI has a strong commitment to public outreach, mostly in partnership with the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The DI has two staff members devoted to this activity. Faculty, postdocs, and graduate students are also expected to participate, and do so willingly and effectively. The most popular and newsworthy outreach activity, so far, was the viewing of the June 5, 2012 transit of Venus by thousands of people in Varsity Stadium. The DI held its first advanced summer school, on the topic of astronomical instrumentation, in 2012.

References

Discovering the Universe: 2011-2012 Dunlap Institute Annual Report (2012)

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http://www.di.utoronto.ca/