Hans-Walter Rix

In the beginning was light – the history of our cosmos began around 13.8 billion years ago with the Big Bang. How did stars and galaxies suddenly emerge from the darkness? What did the light of the first day look like? The Heidelberg astrophysicist Hans-Walter Rix has been asking himself these questions for over two decades. The James Webb Space Telescope, which has been hovering in space since 2021, is now transmitting images that he has been waiting years for. They show what the universe looked like after the Big Bang and provide unprecedented insights into the galaxy. The lecture takes us on a journey through the history of the universe and clarifies how many stars were among the first galaxies and whether we now need to rewrite the Big Bang theory.

Prof. Dr. Hans-Walter Rix is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. He researches the formation of galaxies, their structure and dynamics and is involved in major international astrophysics projects at NASA and ESA.

As part of the International Science Festival – Geist Heidelberg