Abstract
In 2021, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched a new wave of recruitment to select the next generation of astronauts. 22,523 persons from the ESA member states applied, out of which 319 were Norwegians. Through a one and a half year long strenuous process, consisting of in-depth physical and physiological testing of the candidates, taking place at the ESA Astronaut Centre in Cologne, ESA carefully selected in candidates, stage by stage. For the final interviews there were about 40 candidates left, out of which two were Norwegians. No Norwegians were finally selected for the astronaut positions. However, an employee of the Department of Physics at UiO, Erik Adli, were one of the two Norwegians who almost made it. He will in this colloquium share his journey through the astronaut selection process.
Biography
Erik Adli is a professor in the High Energy Physics Section at the Department of Physics, UiO. He has also been working for the European Space Agency at the ESTEC site in the Netherlands, at CERN in Switzerland, and at SLAC, Stanford, CA, USA. His main interests are particle colliders at the energy frontier of particle physics, as well as advanced accelerator R&D for a multitude of applications, including particle therapy and spallation sources.
Cake and coffee/te will be served from 12.00 -12.15 (the talk starts appr. 12.15).
After the talk, there will be a short presentation of the James Webb Space Telescope