We were fortunate enough to finally hold our annual presentation to commemorate the foundation of ShibuMaku after it was postponed in February due to the pandemic. Dr. Yudai Suwa, an assistant professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, gave a lecture entitled, “From ShibuMaku to the Universe.” Dr. Suwa is an award-winning and up-and-coming astrophysicist who received the Award for Young Scientists given by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2021. He is also a graduate of ShibuMaku’s Class of 2001.
Dr. Suwa discussed numerous topics during the first part of his presentation such as his school life at ShibuMaku – including his graduation thesis on blackholes, choosing his future path, his university life, his time at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, as well as his career path. In the second half of his presentation, Dr. Suwa demonstrated part of an actual lecture he delivers to students at the University of Tokyo now. Throughout his presentation, Dr. Suwa utilized an online system called “slide” to receive and answer questions from our students in real time.
The presentation unfolded as if it were a well written detective novel. Dr. Suwa explained the origins and mysteries of the universe using research from NASA. Some of the mysteries of the universe he touched upon were images of the shadow of blackholes, the existence of neutron stars where the weight of one cube of sugar is equivalent to the combined weight of the human race, and the rapid development of Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Dr. Suwa closed by reminding our students that there are many exciting lectures at the Universities that allow students to learn the most advanced information in the world.
Dr. Suwa made his presentation extremely beneficial by connecting his current work with his ShibuMaku graduation thesis. It was an honor hosting Dr. Suwa, and we look forward to hearing from him again in the future.