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Hubble above the atmosphere Picture of Roeland van
der Marel

Homepage Roeland van der Marel

Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA (marel@stsci.edu)

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Learn about the fascinating properties of Black Holes on the web site "Black Holes: Gravity's Relentless Pull" that my team created. The site won the Top Prize of the 2005 Pirelli Awards for the best internet site worldwide devoted to the comunication of science and technology.

Black Holes: Gravity's
Relentless Pull

The software for the site is also freely available from STScI for use in museum kiosk exhibits. This version won a MUSE award from the American Association of Museums. Scroll to the bottom of this page for excerpts of some reviews of the web site.

News Item Er is nu ook een Nederlandstalige versie van de website!


Click for Baltimore, Maryland Forecast Running Photo [*]

My life in a nutshell

My family roots can be traced back to the village of Wateringen in The Netherlands. I myself was born in the nearby city of The Hague. At the age of four I moved to Wassenaar, where I lived for sixteen years. I attended the Salvator primary school and the St. Adelbert high school. I moved to Leiden, to study astronomy and mathematics at Leiden University. I obtained a PhD in astronomy from Leiden Observatory, and then worked for three years as a Hubble Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. I then moved to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, where I first was a STScI Fellow and where I now work as a tenured Astronomer. I am also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the nearby Johns Hopkins University. My wife Alessandra Aloisi is also an astronomer at STScI, working for the European Space Agency. We have one daughter called Julia. In my spare time I like to run.



Sample images with ACS [*]

What I do for a living

My job at STScI consists of two main parts:

(1) I do scientific research in astronomy. In my research I combine observational, theoretical and numerical approaches to study a variety of subjects. I focus in particular on the structure, dynamics, evolution and formation of galaxies, and on the study of the massive black holes in their nuclei. I do optical and near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and ground-based telescopes. Analysis of the data often requires development of new data reduction techniques and instrument-specific software. To interpret the results I construct stellar and gas dynamical models that are based on the laws of physics. I publish the results of my research in various journals. I am a member of the International Astronomical Union, the American Astronomical Society and the Dutch Astronomers Club.

James Webb Space Telescope (2) I do work in areas that support the Hubble Space Telescope mission and the James Webb Space Telescope mission. I presently lead the Telescopes Group in the STScI Instruments Division, which is responsible for issues related to the telescope structure and focus for both of these missions. This includes preparations for Wavefront Sensing and Control on the Webb Telescope, which will be launched in 2013. I previously led the Branch at STScI responsible for the calibration and user support of the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Planatery Camera 2 (WFPC2). ACS is the instrument with which the Hubble Space Telescope performed most of its observations from 2002-2006, whereas WFPC2 was the instrument with which Hubble Space Telescope performed most of its observations from 1994-2001.



Pirelli Award Ceremony Photo [*]

Selected Awards & Honors



NGC 6240 image [*]

Research

General: Selected Highlights: Video Clips:
LMC on front cover of AJ General Information for non-astronomers: Astronomy Pictures:
HST image of NGC 7052 General Information for non-astronomers (Dutch):



Cover of Nature Cover of BIT Cover of A&A Cover of N&T [*]

Scientific papers

Complete bibliography

Database search:

Citation statistics
Cover of AJ Cover of ApJ Cover of MNRAS



Computer [*]

Software

I have written many fortran programs for specialized astronomical applications, some of which can be downloaded from my website. These freely available programs can be used without restrictions, provided that the following conditions are understood. There are programs on the following topics:



Last modified April 18, 2008.
Roeland van der Marel, marel@stsci.edu.
Copyright Notice.