Riccardo Giacconi is the 2002 Nobel Laureate for Physics, a Research Professor at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, and the President of Associated Universities Inc., Washington, D.C. Born in Genoa, Italy, he spent most of his early years in Milan, where he studied Physics, obtaining his Ph.D. in 1954. In the consecutive years he worked in leading posts at American Science and Engineering (AS&E) Inc., as Professor for Astronomy at Harvard University and as Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute. Here he was planning and executing the science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope, using his experience as Principal Investigator of several earlier NASA programs including the SO-54 Skylab program. In the nineties he joined the University of Milan as Professor for Physics and Astronomy and was also Director General of the European Southern Observatory. In the course of his work Prof. Giacconi has constructed instruments to investigate cosmic X-ray radiation. He detected for the first time a source of X-rays outside our solar system and also sources of X-rays that are now considered to contain black holes. Prof. Giacconi constructed the first X-ray telescopes, which have increased our understanding of the sun, stars, galaxies and supernovae. His contributions laid the foundations of X-ray astronomy and provided us with a new knowledge that has changed the way we look upon the universe.

Monday, January 10, 2005:

14:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at Chulalongkorn University

Information & free tickets: Phone 02-218-3331-5, Fax 02-216-1299,
E-mail int.off@chula.ac.th

Tuesday, January 11, 2005:

10:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at Trium Udom Suksa School in cooperation with The Science Society of Thailand under the Royal Patronage of His Majesty The King (not a public event)

Wednesday, January 12, 2005:

10:00 Keynote speech and dialogue at the Asian Institute of Technology

Information & free tickets: Phone 02-524-5005, Fax 02-524-6005,
E-mail nadeera@ait.ac.th

13:30 Keynote speech and dialogue at Thailand Science Park co-hosted by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology: 'How to create and manage mega-scientific projects - NASA experience' (not a public event)

Friday, January 14, 2005:

10:30 Keynote speech and dialogue at the Asian University for Science and Technology

Information & free tickets: Phone 038-754-450 ext. 1110, Fax 038-754-460,
E-mail npanit@asianust.ac.th