学术报告第155期：Organic Matter in the Universe

主讲人 (Speaker): 

Sun Kwok（郭新）

主讲人单位 (Speaker's Institute): 

加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚大学

邀请人 (Invited by): 

张泳

时间 (Time): 

星期五, 2019/11/22 - 15:00 to 16:00

地点 (Location): 

珠海校区海滨红楼17栋107 (Rm 107, Red House 17)

摘要 (Abstract): 

Recent observational and experimental evidence for the presence of complex organics in space is reviewed.  Remote astronomical observations have detected ~200 gas-phase molecules through their rotational and vibrational transitions.  Many classes of organic molecules are represented in this list, including some precursors to biological molecules.  A number of unidentified spectral phenomena observed in the interstellar medium are likely to have originated from complex organics.  The observation of these features in distant galaxies suggests that organic synthesis had already taken place during the early epochs of the Universe.   

In the Solar System, almost all biologically relevant molecules can be found in the soluble component of carbonaceous meteorites.  Complex organics of mixed aromatic and aliphatic structures are present in the insoluble component of meteorites.  Hydrocarbons cover much of the surface of the planetary satellite Titan and complex organics are found in comets and interplanetary dust particles.  The possibility that the early Solar System, or even the early Earth, have been enriched by interstellar organics is discussed. 

主讲人简介 (Speaker's CV): 

Prof. Kwok is currently Honorary Professor of University of British Columbia. He previously served as Dean of Science and Chair Professor of Space Science at the University of Hong Kong, Director and Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taiwan,P.R.C. Between 2015 and 2018, he was President of the International Astronomical Union Commission on Astrobiology. Prof. Kwok is the author of many books, including The Origin and Evolution of Planetary Nebulae (Cambridge, 2000), Cosmic Butterflies (Cambridge, 2001), Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium (University Science Books, 2007), Organic Matter in the Universe (Wiley, 2011), and Stardust: the cosmic seeds of life (Springer, 2013). His latest book Our Place in the Universe was published by Springer in 2017.