About the Speaker Dr. H l ne R. Dickel received her A.B. in mathematics from Mount Holyoke College in 1959 and her Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Michigan in 1964. She co-discovered the first formaldehyde maser in 1979 and is a pioneer in radio molecular spectroscopy using radio aperture synthesis techniques.
Recent research includes radiative transfer modeling of star-forming regions.
By 2000, over 120 molecules had been discovered. The molecules are found in clouds of cold gas and dust, which are distributed throughout the Milky Way Galaxy. Molecular clouds fragment into small clumps, which collapse to form stars, which ionize their surroundings and begin to disrupt the remaining molecular clouds. The disruption can create new clumps, which, in turn, collapse to form the next generation of stars. Radio observations of molecular clouds made during the last decade will be described and recent results presented.