How did sabre-toothed tigers acquire their long upper canine teeth?
A study led by ULiège enriches our understanding of the Earth's past and documents the mechanisms leading to evolutionary convergence.
As a public university open to the world and is anchored in the scientific, cultural and economic development of its region, the University of Liège relies on its three pillars: teaching, research and civic engagement.
ULiège trains responsible citizens who are provided with cutting-edge knowledge and critical thinking, are able to share knowledge and can push forward an increasingly complex world.
ULiège develops and promotes excellence in research, multidisciplinary and direct engagement with its instruction.
Global exposure is a top priority at the University of Liège. The institution offers a wide range of international mobility opportunities to students, researchers and staff, enabling them to enhance their cross-disciplinary skills and language knowledge.
ULiège: an experience of daily living. Located in 3 cities and 4 campuses, the university is a key player in terms of the environment and mobility.
Designed to identify and study transient or variable objects in our galaxy and beyond, the ILMT - the International Liquid Mirror Telescope - has just been inaugurated in India in the presence of, among others, Anne-Sophie Nyssen (Rector of the University of Liège), Didier Vanderhasselt (Belgian Ambassador to India), Brigitte Decadt (BELSPO) and Jean Surdej (University of Liège), initiator of the project.
I
ndian, Belgian and Canadian astronomers have a new tool to observe the cosmos with the commissioning of the International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT). Located at the Devasthal Observatory in India's central Himalayas, the telescope uses a 4-meter diameter rotating mirror, covered with a thin film of liquid mercury, to collect and focus light. The telescope is designed to study the band of the sky that passes overhead each night, allowing it to identify transient or variable objects such as supernovae, gravitational lenses, space debris, asteroids, etc.
Present at the inauguration of the telescope, Rector Anne-Sophie Nyssen was pleased that the University of Liege was at the origin of this project, the instrument having been produced by the company Amos, a spin-off of the ULiège. "This underlines once again the competencies of our University in the field of space and astrophysics. It is the result of a project imagined many years ago and pursued with perseverance by Pr Jean Surdej. It is an important event for science and international scientific collaboration."
The establishment of this telescope and its operation is part of the bilateral agreement BINA, the Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA). The inauguration of the telescope took place in the presence of Anne-Sophie Nyssen (Rector of the ULiège), Prof. Jean Surdej (responsible for the project), Prof. Ronald van der Linden (Director of the Royal Observatory of Belgium), Mr Didier Vanderhasselt (Ambassador of Belgium in India), Mrs Brigitte Decadt (BELSPO) and Indian representatives.
The Devasthal Observatory is an astronomical site in India, located at an altitude of 2450 meters in the Kumaun region of the Himalayas, in the district of Nainital, in the state of Uttarakhand. It is operated by the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES; Nainital, India) and currently houses three telescopes: a 1.3-m optical telescope and two so-called Indo-Belgian telescopes. The Devathal 3.6-m optical telescope (DOT; Fig. 1, left and middle) received this status because it was built by AMOS (Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems; Liege, Belgium) with financial support from the Belgian Federal Science Policy Office (BELSPO; Belgian government). In return for this financial support, 7% of the telescope's operating time with the DOT is reserved for projects led by Belgian astronomers. The International Liquid Mirror Telescope 4 m (ILMT; Fig. 1, right) is a Belgian initiative led by members of the University of Liege in collaboration with institutes in India (ARIES; Nainital) and Canada (Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria).
A panoramic view of the Devasthal Observatory campus of ARIES at Nainital, Uttarakhand.
The Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA) was created to increase interaction between Indian and Belgian astronomers and to stimulate the joint use of Indo-Belgian and other telescopes of interest to maximize their scientific output for the solar system, galactic and extragalactic celestial objects. The network resulting from this collaboration continues to expand and currently involves collaborators from six Belgian institutes, including ULiège, and twelve Indian institutes.
A study led by ULiège enriches our understanding of the Earth's past and documents the mechanisms leading to evolutionary convergence.
Since the afternoon of Friday May 10, there has been a sit-in by students in solidarity with Palestine in the entrance hall and cafeteria of the University's Central Building.
As part of the Welbio Investigator Program call for projects, two FARAH projects and one GIGA project were selected for funding at the Université de Liège.