Awards and Prizes

Webb and iREx members in the News!

A watercolor of the James Webb Space Telescope. (Credit: P. Vuaillet)
A watercolor of the James Webb Space Telescope. (Credit: P. Vuaillet)

After twenty years of work, the Webb Telescope team finally saw their observatory launch into space on December 25th.

As expected, this event attracted a lot of media interest. The telescope and many iREx researchers who worked closely on the development of the Canadian instruments as well as the planning of the observatory observations were featured.

Here are a few of the articles, broadcasts, and interviews that were conducted around the Webb launch with iREx members. Note however that this list is far from being complete!

 

Our Coverage

Christine Beaudoin, Olivier Hernandez, Nathalie Ouellette and René Doyon at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in November 2021. (Credit: A. Philibert/Université de Montréal)

On November 22nd, the Université de Montréal organised a video shoot at Space for Life’s Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium. Nathalie Ouellette, as well as our Director René Doyon and our founding member Olivier Hernandez, now Director at the Planetarium, participated in the special program: UdeM: At the heart of the Webb mission, hosted by Christine Beaudoin.

During the same day, our astrophysicists Marie-Eve Naud, Frédérique Baron, Nathalie Ouellette and Olivia Lim also recorded La petite école de l’espace: édition spéciale – télescope spatial James Webb (in French), a program aimed at children broadcasted on December 22nd 2021.

 

Olivia Lim, Marie-Eve Naud, Frédérique Baron and Nathalie Ouellette during the filming of La petite école de l’espace at the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium in November 2021. (Credit: A. Philibert/Université de Montréal)

Frédérique Baron and Nathalie Ouellette also took the opportunity to interview René Doyon about Webb. The special episode of our podcast Les astrophysiciennes, available in French on your favorite platforms, recounts the history of the involvement of Université de Montréal researchers in the mission.

 

In the Canadian media

Nos chercheuses et chercheurs ont été mis de l’avant au Québec et ailleurs au Canada dans de nombreux reportages dédiés à Webb dans la presse écrite, sur le web, à la radio, et à la télévision.

René Doyon on the popular TV show Découverte, broadcast in January 2022.

Several special features were published in magazines, on TV, on the radio and online.

Lisa Dang in the Toronto Star in December 2021. (Credit: Toronto Star/G. Capriotti)

In addition to these special programs, several published articles and interviews featured our researchers:

Nathalie Ouellette on Salut Bonjour, November 27, 2021.

 

Elsewhere in the world

Nathalie Ouellette during live coverage of NASA’s Webb launch.

Several iREx researchers were also featured in the media around the world. Here are a few examples:

The iREx researchers felt very fortunate to have the opportunity to share their enthusiasm for the great Webb Telescope adventure, which is just starting!