Scientific Rationale

To pay tribute to Fritz Zwicky's contributions to the study of galaxies and his interest in morphological questions, the theme of the Symposium will focus on the relation between star-formation activity, black hole growth and morphological transformation in galaxies across cosmic time.

A group of about 50 astrophysicists, a mixture of distinguished world experts and rising young leaders, have been invited to the Symposium.

The format of the meeting will include a few review talks from the most senior participants, which will set the stage for the discussions, and a few short contributions by some of the more junior participants. In addition, there will be extensive chaired panel sessions with several panelists, which will give the opportunity to discuss and directly confront different perspectives on what drives galactic transformations.

The aim of this format is to enable highly interactive yet constructive exchanges of opinions on some of the outstanding questions concerning causes, modes and effects that are associated with galactic transformations at early and late epochs in the Universe. Such transformations involve the ability of galaxies to form stars, with galaxies mutating from actively star-forming into ‘dead’, non-star-forming entities (and possibly back to actively star-forming systems). The transformations also involve their morphologies, changing from the disk-dominated appearance that characterizes our own Milky Way, to the spheroidal structure that is distinctive of the most massive galaxies in the Universe (and possibly back, thanks to cosmic accretion of gas from the surrounding Universe, to disk morphologies).

In Fritz Zwicky’s own words, "The essence of the morphological method is in direct thinking and direct action." These words encapsulate the spirit that inspires us to give life to what we believe will be a thought-provoking meeting and a testimonial to Fritz Zwicky’s long-lasting legacy in astrophysics, cosmology and in science at large.