Guillermo Blanc wants to understand the processes by which galaxies form and evolve over the course of the history of the universe. He studies local galaxies in the “present day” universe as well as very distant and therefore older galaxies to observe the early epochs of galaxy evolution. Blanc conducts a series of research projects on the properties of young and distant galaxies, the large-scale structure of the universe, the nature of Dark Energy—the mysterious repulsive force, the process of star formation at galactic scales, and the measurement of chemical abundances in galaxies.
To conduct this work, he takes a multi-wavelength approach including observations in the UV, optical, infrared, and radio parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. He focuses on the first billion years after the Big Bang to the present day. He additionally studies star formation in nearby galaxies, the chemical abundances in ionized nebulae—the dusty, gaseous material— and Lyman-alpha emission in galaxies. These are spectra of distant galaxies and quasars.
Blanc received a Ph.D. in astronomy in 2011 from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. and M.S. in astronomy from the Universidad de Chile ion Santiago. He was Carnegie postdoctoral fellow from 2011 to 2015 and became a staff associate in 2016.
