As man’s understanding of the universe continues to grow, we take a journey through time to understand the importance of the measurement of distances in the field of astronomy. Parallax has been at the very heart of astronomy for more that 2000 years. It was used in ancient times to measure distances, and right at the present the GAIA satellite is using exactly the same method, but with emerging technology to map our galaxy. While a large part of our universe still remains undiscovered, we understand how the cosmic distance ladder and the contributions of various visionaries in history have improved our understanding of the current celestial objects that lie in our galaxy and beyond.
This talk has been given by Professor Ajit Kembhavi , a distinguished astronomer conducting study on extragalactic objects, various areas of high energy astrophysics, X-ray and radio pulsars. Ajit Kembhavi is Professor Emeritus and Raja Ramanna Fellow at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, India. He was Director there until August 2015. He has been a part of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the LIGO India projects for several years. He did his Ph. D. from TIFR, Mumbai and was a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. He is also associated with the Space Commission and Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Apex Science Board and has served as theVice-President of the International Astronomical Union and the former President of Astronomical Society of India.

Professor Ajit Kembhavi is a distinguished astronomer conducting study on extragalactic objects, various areas of high energy astrophysics, X-ray and radio pulsars. He has been a part of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the LIGO India projects for several years.
He is associated with the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, and presided as the Director until August 2015. He's also an integral part of the Space Commission and ISRO’s Apex Science Board.

Furthermore, Professor Kembhavi serves as the Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union and was also the President of the Astronomical Society of India.
. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx