22nd of April 2020 |
---|
Switzerland's EPFL joins the SKA Organisation |
The Swiss science and technology university École Polytechnique
Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) has become the 14th member of the SKA
Organisation (SKAO) following a unanimous decision by the SKA Board of
Directors. EPFL will be the lead institution coordinating involvement
in the SKA on behalf of the Swiss academic community.
At a national level, Switzerland has held observer status within the Organisation since 2016, with many Swiss research institutions and many industry partners contributing to various aspects of the SKA. The country has a history of world-class research and development in science and astronomy, including leading the recent CHEOPS mission to study exoplanets, developing world-leading instrumentation for the ESO telescopes in Chile, and being one of the hosts of the major international particle physics infrastructure CERN. Scientists at Swiss institutions are active in eight of the SKA’s science working groups, including those focusing on galaxy evolution, cosmology and cosmic magnetism. (Image credit: Mediacom EPFL. Text credit: SKAO) |