For the first time at the international space conference dealing with technology, the Israel Space Agency also initiated a scientific conference on black holes

For the first time during Israel Space Week, the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology held a scientific conference: “Black holes – from theory to observations”. In the conference, which is mainly intended for academia in Israel, world-leading researchers from abroad also participated in this field, such as Roger Blandfold from Stanford University, Marta Voluntri from the Institute of Astrophysics in Paris and Reinhard Gentzel, who in 2020 won the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering a black hole at the center of the galaxy and revealed at the conference the Progress in the study of the dynamics of disintegrating stars near the event horizon of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

For the full program of the conference>>

The conference, which was held for the first time as part of the Ilan Ramon International Space Conference, which usually deals with technological aspects, was an opportunity to give the 200 visitors a glimpse of some of the findings at the forefront of scientific research, especially since the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope about a year ago. Prof. Martha Voluntri, which reviewed the history of massive black holes, even expressed the excitement and hope for the groundbreaking research that the scientific world is already on, in preparation for further observations of black holes by the space telescope.

Towards more scientific conferences

The conference “Black holes – from theory to observations” is considered a rather unique event. Dr. Adi Nino Greenberg, the space agency’s science advisor who led the conference together with a scientific committee from all the universities in Israel dealing in the field, explains that “Scientific conferences designed to share information from the research front are typically the type of events organized by research bodies and not government bodies. But we initiated this conference because it is an integral part of the Israel Space Agency’s vision and strategy to support innovation and development in the field of space, both in industry and academia.”

Alongside Israeli and foreign researchers who presented their research and reviewed the innovations in the field of black hole research, Dr. Nino Greenberg added that the conference also served as a platform for the exhibition of 16 scientific posters, in which additional researchers presented. The success of the conference in attracting local and international academia will lead to holding conferences in additional space fields for the scientific community.

The Israel Space Agency would like to thank the members of the scientific committee that led the conference – Zvi Piran (Chairman), Avi Domb, the Office’s Chief Scientist, Yoni Garnot, Dafna Guetta, Doron Shloush, Mein Somniak, Eli Kovacs, Ari Laor, Barak Zakai and Dan Maoz – as well as to the Israeli researchers who are lecturing – Zvi Maza, Eran Ofek, Yair Hakabi, Elad Steinberg, Ofek Birnholz, Hagi Peretz.