- juliedalgobbo
Name: Elisa Chisari
Current position: Faculty
Affiliation: Utrecht University
Field of research: Cosmology
What is your career trajectory to date?
I grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I got my bachelor’s degree in Physics. After leaving Argentina, I completed my PhD in Astrophysics at Princeton University in 2014. I then moved to University of Oxford, where I held two different postdoctoral fellowships between 2014-2017 (Beecroft Research Fellowship) and 2017-2019 (Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship). During my stay at Oxford I was also a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College. Since 2017, I am an assistant professor at the Institute for Theoretical Physics of Utrecht University.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
I think the biggest questions in my research area concern the nature of the dark components of the Universe. Dark matter makes up about 25% of the energy density in the Universe today, and dark energy, 70%. We are still at a loss for understanding the origin of these components. Is dark matter an unidentified particle? Is dark energy compatible with a cosmological constant and Einstein's theory, or do we need to explain the large-scale expansion of the Universe in some "modified" way?
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
I love about being a scientist that I meet and get to work with people from many different cultures and backgrounds. I enjoy solving the challenge of solving problems and also the small moments when I come up with a new idea to work on. I like to be surprised by the ideas and questions my students have, either in research or in the classroom.
Which of your skills are you most proud of, or find most useful?
I am proud of having accomplished a set of software programming skills which I can use for research but also in the classroom. I am also proud of the effort I put on embedding day-to-day research in the classroom, bringing students closer to experiencing what life as an actual scientist is like.
What advances or new results are you excited about or looking forward to?
I think there are many things that would be incredibly exciting in my field and in astrophysics in general. Revealing the nature of dark energy and dark matter, of course, would be one of them. I am looking forward to seeing the full potential of ongoing and upcoming lensing experiments. But I would also be excited to see new results coming on gravitational waves, particularly from the early Universe!
What is the biggest obstacle that is slowing down your research field right now?
Time and people power are always the main obstacle! But scientifically I think one area where we still need to improve in my field is being able to accurately model the Universe to more nonlinear scales.
Have you lived in a different European country than you do now? If so, would you like to tell us something about it, e.g. a fond memory or something you found surprising?
From 2014 to 2019 I lived at Oxford in the United Kingdom. I loved the ambiance in the pubs, especially the live folk music. Not many people know this, but I also lived in Italy for a year as a child, although I do not have explicit memories from then.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
I like to relax by taking a walk or going on a short cycle after work, especially if there is good weather and even if it's late in the evening.
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
I love listening and dancing to tango music. I am also a big fan of Zumba.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
I think in 9 lives out of 10, I would still be a scientist. But in 1 out of 10 you would probably find me writing, either fiction or journalism.
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
I would certainly hope we have pinned down the nature of dark matter and dark energy within the next 50 years.
What question would you have liked us to ask you, and what would you have responded?
I think it would have been nice to ask a bit about the composition of my research group. I work with many talented students and postdocs who deserve a lot of credit. At any given time, there are about 10 people in my group and they work on different aspects of cosmology, though mostly connected to the large-scale structure and the shapes of galaxies. They also contribute to the analysis of experimental data, such as the Kilo-Degree Survey, or play significant roles in developing the theory pipelines of future experiments, like for the Dark Energy Science Collaboration of Rubin Observatory.
- juliedalgobbo
Name: Fabio Iocco
Current position: Faculty
Affiliation: Università di Napoli "Federico II"
Field of research: Astroparticle physics and Cosmology
What is your career trajectory to date?
I have been an undergraduate and then started graduate studies in my hometown's University: Napoli. I spent a big fraction of my PhD years at Stanford's KIPAC, then moved for a postdoc in Arcetri's Observatory (Florence). I then went to Paris, where I stayed for three years, including two as a Marie Curie fellow. After Paris I moved to Stockholm's OKC, where I stayed for two years as a Wenner Gren fellow. Then Madrid's Instituto de Fisica Teorica at UAM, where I was supposed to stay longer than the year I actually spent in order to take on a tenure track job whose offer I had received in the meantime. For which I moved to São Paulo (Brazil), where I joined the (then) recently opened ICTP's South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR). While I was working there I got an offer for a tenured position in my hometown, where I eventually moved after spending a short term in London's King's College. Finally the circle has been closed, and it took less than twenty years!
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
I find the nature of Dark Matter, that of Dark Energy, and the current Hubble Tension open problems to which we do not know the answer, and I find the search of that answer very exciting. Yet I realize that may be "exciting" to me, and not to others. Likewise, I believe that the exploration of the "astrophysical zoo" at very high redshift (z>8) something incredibly stimulating, as it will allow to test our understanding of both astrophysics and cosmology in a yet unexplored realm. Yet I do very much realize that some (many?) may not find this as exciting as searching for an explanation to the g-2 anomaly, or the determination of the exact number of neutrino families. Wouldn't it be exciting if all came -once again- together, astro and particle?
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
I like and dislike pretty much the same things, at different times of the day, of the week or of the year: for instance the incredible freedom one gets into the definition of their own goals is an incredibly juicy reward, and a very heavy burden at different times. So is the flexibility in working hours, which can be a curse and a blessing depending of the stage of the career (or of personal life) you are at. And I don't think that goes linearly with (professional and personal) age.
What advances or new results are you excited about or looking forward to?
I am quite excited about the high redshift pictures from JWST. I guess there is something atavistically exciting about looking into the past, gazing at the first star or the first galaxy ever formed. Seeing the first light ever produced by an individual object, knowing it was the first nuclear reaction to take place in a local environment. I guess it resonates with the childish fascination for one's own birth.
What is the biggest obstacle that is slowing down your research field right now?
It is the same thing that is pushing it forward: its becoming bigger and bigger. The dependence on bigger groups for the achievement of experimental results (and often for their analysis and interpretation) comes because those results are increasingly complex, and it would be impossible to achieve or interpret with smaller groups alone. At the same time the dependence from bigger groups, either an experimental collaboration or large theoretical networks, leaves less time to individual researchers for smaller projects, which can sometimes trigger surprisingly exciting outcomes. I guess this "rigidity" reflects also in the world of publication, something that I believe other fields have experienced before ours, which gives us a chance to steer and take action.
What role do you think a community network like EuCAPT can play in developing theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe?
I would really love it if EuCAPT would help catalyze the formation of smaller groups focused around more specific questions. It is already doing great in making big centers feel closer and coordinate action on big scale, but I feel that it would really be a breakthrough if it could help postdocs and students gather around narrow subjects, and perhaps cooperate spontaneously. A sort of enabler of a grassroots movement -if some conscious language misuse is permitted here- which would empower the new generation with what technology today - and previous generations' efforts- actually allows them to realize.
What’s your favorite food?
Something I have been missing so much over the pandemic years it's the Brazilian fresh fruit squeezes and smoothies. Other than that, I tend to find at least a favorite food local to the country I am in: it is virtually impossible to find decent Ramen in Italy, good pizza in Holland, or decent Tartiflette in the US, so I usually go with the flow. When I am home, I obviously cook a lot of pasta, but I guess that needed no confirmation, right? :)
Have you lived in a different European country than you do now? If so, would you like to tell us something about it, e.g. a fond memory or something you found surprising?
Probably the exhilarating feeling of spring has been the most surprisingly pleasant memory I have from my years in France and Sweden. Spring is always nice, and April is a specially beautiful month in Southern Italy too. But it is not that transition between the death of deep winter and the life of the March defrosting that one experiences in countries farther North. The joy of the sun finally piercing through the clouds, the grass coming back to cover the cold ground, the beauty of those infinite shades of green in the buds carving their way out of the dead branches. I grew up with less contrast between the winter and the summer, and the fierce opposition between the two makes spring certainly more special in cities like London, Paris, Berlin or Stockholm than it is in Napoli or in California. It is an exhilarating feeling I would have never experienced without spending the full winter in the North, and for which I am very grateful.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
Over the last two years, I moved from the chair to the sofa, leaving the laptop for a book. A one-meter-and-a-half physical shift reinforced by a technological one that had the pretense of assuaging the pandemic related anxiety. But did not quite succeed, to be frank. In pre-pandemic times, I used to roam around the city to reach clubs with interesting live music gigs or dance events. Who knows what new style of relax the future will carry.
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
People. I really enjoy to hear people's stories, especially if they are very different from mine.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
The dream has always been orchestra conductor, or professional dancer. More realistically I guess I could have been very good as a UN official, with duties on the field. (But this is all counter-factual, so why not to leave it to the dream :) ).
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
I guess the biggest hope is that the field accomplishes something I can not even imagine today.
- juliedalgobbo
Name: Natalie Hogg
Current position: Post doc
Affiliation: IPhT CEA-Sacla
Field of research: Cosmology
What is your career trajectory to date?
I did my undergraduate and Master's at Aberystwyth University in Wales, then I went to ICG Portsmouth for my PhD, which I finished in 2021. By that time I'd had enough of living by the sea so I started my current postdoc position which has been split between IFT UAM-CSIC in Madrid and IPhT CEA-Saclay in Paris.
What are the most exciting open questions in your research area?
Whether dark energy is really the cosmological constant or not, and related to this, does general relativity work on the really small and really large scales? If not, can we come up with a better theory of gravity?
What do you like and dislike about being a scientist?
I like the freedom to work on whatever interests you, the ability to travel to different places to meet new people and talk about science and in general the collaborative nature of the job. I don't like having to move countries every couple of years to chase the next position and I don't like the persistent racism and sexism in science -- but these are more problems with academia than being a scientist.
Which of your skills are you most proud of, or find most useful?
I enjoy giving talks and writing papers and these are both very useful skills because communicating your results effectively is a key part of doing science.
In your career so far, at what point were you the most excited, and what were you excited about?
I remember that the first detection of gravitational waves was made about six months before I started my PhD, which made me glad I'd chosen to focus on cosmology. Watching the recent launch of JWST was also very exciting!
What new skills would you like to learn in the next year?
I am supervising a student for the first time this summer, so I am definitely going to learn something about supervision and project planning through that.
What is the biggest obstacle that is slowing down your research field right now?
The pressure to publish as much as possible without regard to the quality. The lottery-like nature of the peer review system. Forcing people to change jobs so often that it's impossible to build any sense of stability and progression either at work or in their personal lives, which impacts productivity in a huge way.
What role do you think a community network like EuCAPT can play in developing theoretical astroparticle physics and cosmology in Europe?
Science doesn't happen in a vacuum, so any initiative which helps researchers connect with each other and start conversations about their work can only be a good thing for the development of the field.
What’s your favorite food?
Mum's homemade macaroni cheese.
Have you lived in a different European country than you do now? If so, would you like to tell us something about it, e.g. a fond memory or something you found surprising?
One of my strongest memories from living in Spain was experiencing temperatures above 35 degrees for the first time -- tough for a northern European! I also loved the Moorish architecture, for example in Toledo, Seville and Granada.
How do you like to relax after a hard day of work?
One word: pub!
Do you have any non-physics interests that you would like to share?
I like classical music (both playing and listening), reading crime fiction and classic literature, and enjoying the great outdoors.
If you were not a scientist, what do you think you would be doing?
Writing the next best-selling murder mystery novel.
What do you hope to see accomplished scientifically in the next 50 years?
Finding cures or better treatments for diseases like cancer and dementia.