About me
Me & My research
Me
I feel privileged that I enjoy what I study. Astronomy is my passion. My studies enable me to combine my hobbies, like programming, with abstract complex concepts such as the origins and evolution of the Universe. In my free time, I enjoy listening to music and reading books. Some of my favorite authors are Arjen van Veelen, Harry Mulisch, and Haruki Murakami.
Furthermore, I like to play baseball and football and go surfing when the weather permits it. I enjoy delivering qualitative work using my metrics. In life, I consider myself enthusiastic and driven yet full of doubt. Strong opinions held loosely; I love that.
My research path & aims
Since the early days of modern cosmology, astronomers have recognized the importance of large-scale matter structuring. The physics of gravitational instability — which links primordial density fluctuations to the formation of cosmic structures — provides the foundations for the theory of galaxy and cluster evolution. However, providing a sound description of the fate of baryons that reside within large gravitational potential wells has proven challenging.
By pushing observations of the largest objects to form to higher redshifts, I strive to better understand the evolutionary pathways of massive cosmic structures. During my Ph.D., I specialized in using ALMA, the GBT, and ACT to retrieve the characteristics of early-formed structures like the first galaxies and protoclusters.
Before I joined Allegro, I did my PhD at ESO in Garching (Magna Cum Laude), and I studied in Leiden for six years, where I completed my two bachelor's degrees in Astronomy and Physics and specialized in Astronomical Research during my master's (Cum Laude).
My Hobbies
Surprise! I am an academic with hobbies. I know it is rare to find a scientist who has time to enjoy life outside of their work, but it is possible! I use this website as a platform to record my activities, so feel free to look and scroll through them.
Writing Proza
To get well-argumented opinions, you need to write them down. See it this way: Stefan Zweig would have never been able to make such compelling stories if he had kept them in his head... So that is what I will be doing. Write. Putting my opinions out there, getting involved in society, and hoping for the best it is not total bullshit.
Outreach
I like public speaking. I have done so from an early age, and I still enjoy it. Last year, for instance, I gave an outreach talk on the evolution of cosmic structures at the Pint of Science event in Munich. Furthermore, I created a practicum for high school kids that taught them to use Python to analyze real astronomical data. This exercise on a transit of an exoplanet can be found below! Be aware the notebook is written in Dutch...
Coding
In my studies, I focussed a lot on developing my technical skills. Luckily, this allowed me to play around with Neural Networks and other algorithms. For instance, we taught a cheetah to run as quickly as possible, balance a pole on a cart while pushing it around, and beat all our friends with a game of Hex. If you want to check out all my projects, just move to my GitHub!