We are happy to annouce that we will have a public lecture! 

15th September, 2026 |  18:00 | Faculty of Science,  Ul. Ruđera Boškovića 33, 21000, Split, Croatia

Abstract

Research driven by fundamental questions about the universe has repeatedly led to

technological breakthroughs with impacts far beyond astronomy. In our quest to observe the

high-energy universe, we have developed advanced X-ray and gamma-ray detectors with

unprecedented sensitivity, energy resolution, and imaging capability. Carried by balloons,

rockets, and satellites, these instruments allow us to study some of the most extreme

phenomena in nature, including black holes, neutron stars, supernova explosions, and the origin

of the chemical elements.

Technologies developed for these observations have also found applications far beyond space

science. Semiconductor Compton cameras developed for a satellite mission in high-energy

astronomy were adapted after the Fukushima nuclear accident to visualize radioactive

contamination. CdTe semiconductor imaging technology has since been extended to biomedical

research, including multi-isotope imaging in small animals, visualization of microscopic

metastases, and quantitative tracking of radiopharmaceuticals for drug development and

targeted alpha-particle therapy. More recently, the same technology has also been applied to

non-destructive elemental analysis of precious historical artifacts using negative muons.

These examples demonstrate how technologies created to explore the universe can become

powerful tools for visualizing the invisible across many different fields. In this lecture, I will

introduce the scientific challenges that motivated these developments, the technologies that

made them possible, and how innovations born from space exploration are finding new roles in

environmental monitoring, medicine, and cultural heritage research—bringing the benefits of

space science back to people.