Under Prague's Starry Skies

Modelling and observing dense stellar systems,
being MODEST 17 Under Prague's Starry Skies
at Charles University during September, 18 – 22, 2017

Prague is a city in the heart of Europe where astronomers and physicists have shaped the knowledge of mankind throughout history. Starting from medieval astronomers building the famous Prague astronomical clock, footprints of many famous astronomers and physicists may be found within the historical walls of Prague.

Renaissance astronomer Tycho Brahe served in Prague as the Imperial Court Astronomer of the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Using his unprecedentedly accurate data, Johannes Kepler discovered in Prague the first two of his laws of planetary motions and formulated them in his manuscript Astronomia nova (1609). In 1842, Christian Doppler, professor of the Prague Polytechnic, presented his principle in a lecture to the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences for the first time. A few decades later, Ernst Mach spent major part (28 years) of his scientific career at Charles University in Prague where he also twice became a Rector. In the years 1911–1912, Albert Einstein was a full professor at the same university where he made several important steps towards the final formulation of the theory of general relativity.

Another 105 years later and under such starry scientific skies, the historical city of Prague will be hosting a modest gathering of modellers and observers of dense stellar systems, the MODEST 17 conference, to which you are most heartily invited.

Albert Einstein performed some of his crucial calculations during his stay in Prague (1911–1912)
Ernst Mach worked at the Charles University in Prague for 28 years (1867–1895)
Christian Doppler presented his principle in a lecture before the Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences in Prague (1842)
Johannes Kepler formulated his first two laws of planetary motion in Prague (1609, Astronomia nova)
Tycho Brahe was the Imperial Court Astronomer of the Emperor Rudolf II in Prague (1597–1601)
Scientific topics: Galactic centre / nuclear star clusters
Young star clusters and star forming regions
Stellar dynamics and numerical methods
Stellar populations in star clusters
Blue stragglers / stellar collisions and their products
Compact objects in star clusters
Astrophysical sources of gravitational waves
Dynamics of (exo)planetary systems in star clusters
New observational frontiers (LIGO, GAIA, JWST, FAST...)