Professor Ofer Lahav
![Ofer Lahav](/astrophysics/sites/astrophysics/files/styles/small_image/public/ofer_lahav_ucl_2014_0.jpg?itok=I4gkVFzs)
Ìý(via UCL IRIS)
Notable Events
![](/astrophysics/sites/astrophysics/files/styles/small_image/public/book.png?itok=gIQUbJdT)
The DES Book, published in Sept 2020
- °Õ³ó±ðÌýÌýwas published in September 2020, and twoÌývirtual launch events wereÌýheld onÌýÌý²¹²Ô»å .ÌýÌý
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- The Ìýwas delivered by Ofer on 9 October 2020. A recording of the lecture is available on the Ìý(slides availableÌý), and you can watch Ofer receiving his lectureship award at the .Ìý
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- °Õ³ó±ðÌývirtual launch of the Newton-funded UCL-Jordan Data Science programmeÌýwas held on 24 April 2020.
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- From Deep Learning to the Dark Universe: A conference held in honour of Ofer's 60th Birthday
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![](/astrophysics/sites/astrophysics/files/styles/large_image/public/cumberland_lodge_copyright_gill_heppell_4_of_9_0.jpg?itok=h6IFTIG3)
Group photo taken at Ofer@60, Cumberland Lodge, AprilÌý2019.
- Education and Previous Roles
Ofer studied at Tel-Aviv University (BSc, 1980), at Ben-Gurion University (MSc, 1985; supervised by Jacob Bekenstein) and earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge (1988; supervised by George Efstathiou and Donald Lynden-Bell), where he was later a Member of Staff at the Institute of Astronomy (1990-2003) and a Fellow of St Catharine's College.
At 911±¬ÁÏÍø he previously served as Head of Astrophysics (2004-2011), establishing Cosmology as a research area, and as Vice-Dean (for Research) of the Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (2011-2015).
- Research and Publications
Research Topics
- Cosmological probes of Dark Matter and Dark Energy
- Large spectroscopic and photometric redshift surveys
- Neutrino Cosmology
- Formation and evolution of galaxies
- Data Science
During 2012-2018 he held a European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant onÌý"Testing the Dark Energy Paradigm" (TESTDE).
Ofer has over 400 research articles in refereed journals, seeÌý
Other relevant links:
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- Current and Past PhD Students
Over the years, Ofer has supervised over 30 PhD students at Cambridge and UCL.
Current PhD Students
- Lucy Clerkin
- Ben Henghes
- Constantina Nicolaou
- Sunil Mucesh
- Prabh Bhambra
- Joshua Williamson
Past PhD Students
At Cambridge: Caleb Scharf, Avi Naim, Andy Loan, Simon Folkes, Matthew Webster, Manula Magliocchetti, Andrew Firth, Darren Madgwick, Pirin Erdogdu, Adrian Collister, Vivienne WildÌý
At 911±¬ÁÏÍø: Anais Rassat, Alexandra Abate, Chris Lintott, Angeliki Kiakotou , Manda Banerji, Shuan Thomas, Adam Hawken, Fotini Economou, Morgan Hollis, Maayane Soumagnac. Antonella Palmese, Davide Gualdi, Michael McLeod, John Soo, Niall Jeffrey, Krishna Naidoo
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- Current and Past Postdocs
Current Postdocs
- Qianjun (Ellen) Hang
- Lorne Whiteway
Past Postdocs
At Cambridge: Karl Fisher, Basilio Santiago, Sarah Bridle, Jochen Weller, Oystein Elgaroy, Irit Maor
At 911±¬ÁÏÍø: Igancio Ferreras, Filipe Abdalla, Kazuhide Ichikawa, Eduardo Cypriano. Manda Benerji, Ole Host, Gert Hutsi, Molly Swanson, Chris Sabiu, Sree Balan, Aurelien Benoit-Levy, Stephanie Jouvel, Donnacha Kirk, Michelle Lochner, Marc Manera, Alex Merson, Iftach Sadeh, Will Hartley, Anges Ferte, Satya Gontcho a Gontcho, Fabian Krause, Pablo Lemos
- Collaborative international projects
- Ìý- Survey of 300,000,000 galaxies to study the nature of Dark EnergyÌý
- Ìý- Hubble Space Telescope imaging survey of galaxy clustersÌý
- Ìý- The Dark Energy Spectroscopic InstrumentÌý
- Ìý- The Large Synoptic Survey TelescopeÌý
- Ìý- Space Mission; ESA's Cosmic Vision
- Selected Reviews and Semi Popular Articles
- ÌýEdited by Lahav, O., Calder, L., Mayers, J. & Frieman, J., World Scientific (2020)
- ÌýLahav, O. & Liddle, A.R. (2019) - Invited review, in "The Review of Particle Physics" (Particle Data Group)
- ,Ìý Lahav, O., In the memorialÌývolume "Jacob Bekenstein: The Conservative Revolutionary",Ìý World Scientific (2019)
- , Lahav, O., Observatory Magazine, 138, 261 (2018)
- ÌýDES collaboration, MNRAS, 460, 1270Ìý(2016)
- ÌýLahav, O. & Massimi, M., RAS A&G June 2014 issue
- Calder, L. & Lahav, O., Physics World, Jan 2010 issue
- Lahav, O., Odyssey magazine (in Hebrew), Jan 2010 issue, pg. 38
- ÌýCalder, L. & Lahav,O., RAS A&G, Feb 2008 issue (revised version)
- Selected Recent Presentations
- RAS George Darwin Lecture 2020:Ìý, delivered in October 2020 (slides available ).
- "Machine Learning in Astronomy", delivered in ‘Nails and Hammers’ at the Weizmann Institute (August 2019) and as a guest lecture at the CDT ML Ìýcourse (March 2020)
- Conference summary talk Ìý- Cosmic Flows 2020 (in honour of Renee Kraan-Korteweg), Stellenbosch South AfricaÌýÌý(February 2020)
- , Invited talk given at the Kavli Symposium, Oslo (2016)
- , Invited talk given at Neutrino 2016, London (2016)
- , Invited talk in Bekenstein's memorial meeting, the Israeli Academy, Jerusalem (2016)
- RAS Gerald Whitrow Lecture 2014, , delivered at NAM in Porsmouth (2014)
- Software Packages
- : Photometric redshifts using Machine Learning (Sadeh, Abdalla & Lahav 2016)
- : Photometric redshifts using Artificial Neural Networks (Collister & Lahav 2004)
- : Orbital parameters of extra-solar planets from radial velocities using Bayesian MCMC (Balan & Lahav 2008)
- Scientific Committees
- Ofer is one of the founders of theÌý, and he co-chaired the international DES Science Committee from inception until 2016. He also participates in the next-generation surveys (,Ìý,Ìý). He chairs both the DES:UK and DESI:UK consortia. He served as Vice-President of theÌýÌý(2010-2012), and as aÌýmember of theÌýÌý(2016-2019). Currently is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Astro PartilceÌýPhysics European Consortium (APPEC).
- Recent Media Reports and Public Outreach
- - BBC News at Ten, BBC News at Six, , , UCL Press Release (2021)
- Spotlight on... Professor Ofer Lahav - 911±¬ÁÏÍøews (2021)
- Ìý- UKRI websiteÌý(2021)
- - BBC News at Ten, BBC News at Six, BBC World Service andÌýBBC online (2019)
- Ìý- TRT TV Round-Table discussion on (video, 26 min) (2019)Ìý
- Ìý-ÌýPanel Discussion at the Edinburgh International Science Festival (video, 1 hr)Ìý(2018)
- - Observer article for Dark Matter Day (2018)
- (2017)
- - BBC onlineÌý(2017)
- Ìý- DES websiteÌý(2017)
- (video, 36 min)Ìý(2016)
- Ìý(animation video, 3 min)Ìý(2015)
- Ìý-ÌýGuardian online (video, 3 min)Ìý(2015)
- (audio, from 84 min)Ìý(2013)
- Ìý-ÌýLecture at the Royal Institution (audio, 1hr 27 min)Ìý(2013)
- (video, 7 min)Ìý(2012)
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Last Updated: 26 March 2024
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