February 2011 NUI Galway Professor Key Organiser at International Science Meeting

An NUI Galway Professor is one of the key organisers at the Annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting held in Washington D.C recently. Professor of Applied Physics at NUI Galway, Christopher Dainty introduced a special symposium on the use of adaptive optics to produce sharper images in Astronomy, Microscopy and the human retina. Professor Dainty's meeting was entitled Sharper Images in Astronomy, Microscopy, and Vision Science Using Adaptive Optics. It examined how adaptive optics was developed originally to compensate for the turbulent effects of the atmosphere by using deformable mirrors that provide much sharper images from spy satellites and astronomical telescopes. The methods now are being applied to the microcosmos as well, giving high-resolution images of the human retina and promising unprecedented real-time imagery of fundamental processes within body tissues. The speakers described how phases of light can be manipulated to remove the distortions of an intervening medium, whether the upper atmosphere, the interior fluids of the eyeball or the cellular material in brain tissue. Speaking after the Annual American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting, Professor Dainty said, "Adaptive Optics, more than 50 years after its invention, is finally entering the mainstream of research. This conference highlighted three of its most successful applications to date but there will be new applications in the future." For further information please contact Professor Christopher Dainty at 091 492826 or email chris.dainty@nuigalway.ie ENDS