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Organizational work:
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I organize the Special Concentration in Astrophysics
(Asztrofizika
Szakirány)
at Eötvös University. You will find a comprehensive description
of the
program, syllabi of
required courses, syllabi of
special (elective) courses,
and info on advanced
laboratory experiments
listed here.
Information is provided in Hungarian to attract
prospective students.
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Courses I teach:
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Astrophysics (Fall semester):
This is an introductory course to Astrophysics, required for all third grade
physics students. Covers fundamentals of Astronomy, stellar structure,
stellar evolution, galaxies, large scale structure and
a short introduction to Cosmology.
All these links point to Hungarian syllabi.
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Extragalactic
Astrophysics I. (Fall semester):
I cover photometry of galaxies, potential theory, physics and
stability of collisionless systems, spiral structure, evolution of
galaxies, dark matter, and a few relevant topics in cosmology.
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Extragalactic
Astrophysics II. (Spring semester):
This is the continuation of the above lectures, as a special (elective)
course recommended for those who completed Extragalactic Astrophysics I.
during the fall semester. Interesting current topics are reviewed:
dark matter searches, redshift surveys, etc.
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Cosmology (Spring semester):
This course is required for Physics students taking part in Special
Concentration in Astrophysics and
Astronomy students. Lectures begin with the
overview of Big Bang cosmology, inflation, the thermal history of the
Universe, and continue with the review of current projects to measure
fundamental parameters.
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Astrophysics
Seminar (Fall semester): Current topics of Astrophysical research
are reviewed through a series of papers presented by students:
exploration of the large scale structure of the Universe, precision
cosmology, dark matter searches, and various other issues (like
photometric redshifts or automatic classification of galaxies).
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Image Processing
(Fall semester): 2D trasformations, image enhancement and image restoraton is
reviewed during the first half of the semester. Color image processing,
image compression techniques, scientific visualization, rendering, stereo
imaging follows.
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Laboratory experiments I designed and supervise:
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Astrophysical Image Processing Lab (Fall semester): A
20-hour introduction to image processing software used by astronomers
(IDL and IRAF, mainly), and hands-on experience in reducing and
calibrating CCD images of nearby galaxies.
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I designed a small platform with four
independently steerable and drivable wheels to mimic the
Sojourner rover
(Mars, 1997) and adopted the
Handy
Board
to control the vehicle. Sonar rangers, electromagnetic compasses, and
IR devices will help the untethered mobile robot to navigate.
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Courses I taught in the past:
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I was teaching Astro 1, an
introductory Astronomy course for non-science majors at the University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, between 1996 and 1998.
The stuff is very preliminary, but some of the links could be
interesting.
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I was a teaching assistant (TA) for this course in Princeton back in 1992. Astronomy 203
covered similar topics to those covered by Astro 1 at UPenn (above),
but with the touch of Prof. Gott's
unique style. Michael Strauss and Neil Tyson also teaches this course,
and the page may not be up all the time.
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I also TA-ed for Astronomy 301 in Princeton. Rich Gott was lecturing, giving a
superb overview of special and general relativity at an (Princeton)
undergraduate level. Jeremy Goodman also teaches this course, and the
page may not be up all the time.
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