Jens  Hjorth  Dark  Cosmology  Centre  (2005–2015)  Niels  Bohr  Institute,  U  Copenhagen    

Jens  Hjorth  Dark  Cosmology  Centre  (2005–2015)  Niels  Bohr  Institute,  U  Copenhagen    

Primary  goals      Carry  out  research  that  would  otherwise  not  be  

possible  (prior  to  DARK  we  were  2  permanent  faculty)  

  Create  a  centre  whose  research  and  impact  would  live  on  beyond  the  5  +  5  year  funding  model  –  legacy  

Call  for  applications  in  2003      We  could  relate  to  the  key  criteria:    

synergy,  paradigm  shift,  cross-­‐disciplinary,  young  

  Turn  existing  visions  into  reality    Science    Setup  

  Grab  new  opportunities    Enable  research  in  real  fundamental  and  difficult  

stuff,  address  the  biggest  questions    3  Nobel  Prizes  in  the  field  over  the  past  decade  

  Make  a  difference  

  Spirit  of  change    Born  international    Endeavour    Fun    Family  feeling    Legacy    Openness    Creativity    Competitiveness    Diversity  

  Pie  chart  

The  more  important  fundamental  laws  and  facts  of  physical  science  have  all  been  discovered,  and  these  are  now  so  firmly  established  that  the  possibility  of  their  ever  being  supplanted  in  consequence  of  new  discoveries  is  exceedingly  remote…    Our  future  discoveries  must  be  looked  for  in  the  sixth  place  of  decimals.        

Albert  A.  Michelson  1894  

The  beauty  and  clearness  of  the  dynamical  theory,  which  asserts  heat  and  light  to  be  modes  of  motion,  is  at  present  obscured  by  two  clouds.  I.  The  first  came  into  existence  with  the  undulatory  theory  of  light,  and  was  dealt  with  by  Fresnel  and  Dr.  Thomas  Young;  it  involved  the  question,  how  could  the  earth  move  through  an  elastic  solid,  such  as  essentially  is  the  luminiferous  ether?  II.  The  second  is  the  Maxwell–Boltzmann  doctrine  regarding  the  partition  of  energy.    

Lord  Kelvin  1900  

These  two  clouds  soon  led  to  a  revolution  in  the  laws  of  physics  and  our  understanding  of  the  world:  Einstein’s  theory  of  relativity  and  the  theory  of  quantum  mechanics!  

Tycho  Brahe  1572  

Stella  Nova  

2008  Enrico  Ramirez-­‐Ruiz  UC  Santa  Cruz  

2009  Josh  Bloom  UC  Berkeley  

2010  Priya  Natarajan  Yale  

2011  Eiichiro  Komatsu  Max  Planck  Munich  

2012    Steve  Allen  Stanford  

2  years  at  DARK  

>1  year  at  collaborating  institution  

Frequent  visits,  joint  activities  

Aim  is  to  recruit  the  very  best  scientists  

~200  applications  each  winter  for  DARK  and  Brahe  Fellowships  

  Recognized  PhD  programme    5+3,  4+4,  3+5    17+13  =  30  students,  17  female,  19  international    6-­‐month  evaluation  

  Presentation  to  the  Centre  –  what  I  have  been  doing  and  what  I  do  propose  to  do;  questions  from  audience  

  Essay  –  my  strengths,  weaknesses  (science  +  soft  skills)    Supervisor/student  meets  with  committee  

  Committees    3  DARK  scientists  (including  one  post  doc)  +  Coordinator    1  international  member  

  Supervise  the  supervisor    Give  input  on  plans,  projects    Make  demands,  requirements    Present  ideas,  solutions,  support  

  Internationalization    Gender  balance    Teaching      Professional  management  and  support  

  IT    External  funding    Visitors    Recruitment  

  Societal  engagement  

  410  papers  in  refereed  international  journals    14  papers  in  Science  +  Nature    External  funding  roughly  matches  DNRF  funding,  

including:  1  ERC  starting  grant,  1  Lundbeck  young  group  leader,  6  Marie  Curie  Fellows  

  7  former  postdocs  in  permanent  (academic)  positions  

  NBI  faculty:  were  2  (males),  are  5+1  (50-­‐50  %  gender  balance),  will  be  8  by  2015  

  1  spin-­‐off  center  

  Nobel  Prize  2011    1  DARK  Associate  Scientist    1  Collaborator  

  Euclid  satellite  selected  for  launch  2019    Many  intermediate  results    Stay  tuned:  Have  two  postdocs  who  might  have  the  

key    Hired  because  they  were  great,  not  because  they  were  

working  on  dark  energy    Comes  out  of  interaction  and  work  on  other  problems    One  we  were  able  to  attract  because  our  admin  staff  could  

help  one  spouse  settle  in  Denmark,  has  her  own  clinic  now    Free  research!!!  

  Scientific  results!    Created  a  widely  known  centre  with  a  long-­‐term  

viability    DARK  international  family    A  model  for  inspiration  on  how  to  do  things  (or  how  

not  to  do  things)    A  fair  gender  balance  in  a  hard-­‐core  field  of  research    Training  of  a  new  generation    World-­‐wide  network    A  safe  haven  for  busy  researchers  and  a  place  for  free  

spirits  addressing  deep  questions