Brian Welch was born in the US and his fascination with astronomy started early during high-school thanks to physics classes and an inspiring teacher.
During his undergraduate studies in physics at the University of Chicago, he spent one summer working in parallel in a chemistry lab and in an astronomy position. He realised that studying astronomy was a lot more captivating for him, and it opened the door to a lifelong fascination with the universe. “Everything I learned that first summer made me realise how incredibly big, and weird, the universe is. And that set me up to pursue this career”, Brian tells.
Brian holds a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, during which he explored the inner workings of distant galaxies, merging the power of the Hubble Space Telescope and gravitational lensing (when a very large celestial body bends the path of light around it, distorting and magnifying it, similar to what would happen with a lens).
This was followed by post-doctoral work at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, where he has been working since 2022. He now joins us as a new ISSI Fellow to study how galaxies in their “baby phase” build up different elements.
“We have very detailed measurements of the relative abundances of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, in nearby galaxies. But it’s been challenging to measure this in very distant galaxies. The James Webb Space Telescope has unlocked this possibility for us, because of its sensitivity and wavelength coverage of the infrared. I want to use this capability to look at distant galaxies and figure out where these heavier elements are being produced and what types of stars are responsible for creating them”, Brian explains.
Fun fact: these “baby” galaxies look nothing like the pretty spirals we see in space posters, inspired by the Milky Way or Andromeda. When they are in their childhood, galaxies are lumpy, irregular, and often random-looking blobs of stars and gas. Sometimes, even other astronomers look at the data and say, “Wait, that looks nothing like a galaxy.”
When he’s not looking at galaxies and telescopes, Brian loves skiing. Working in Switzerland will be the perfect setup for weekend mountain escapes, and he can’t wait to hit the slopes.
Brian hopes his work will help us understand how stars built the elements that make up planets, people, and everything else, one blob-shaped galaxy at a time.
Welcome to ISSI, Brian!
