Alberto Conti

Infobox Scientist
name = Alberto Conti
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caption = Alberto Conti playing statue in France
birth_date = birth date and age|1966|09|27
birth_place = Palmanova, Italy
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residence = (1966–1994)
(1994–present)
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field = Astrophysics
work_institutions = Space Telescope Science Institute
alma_mater = Ohio State University
doctoral_advisor = Barbara Ryden
Patrick Osmer
David Weinberg
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known_for = [http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/gsky/ GoogleSky] (Sky in Google Earth)

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Alberto Conti (born September 27, 1966), is an Italian astrophysicist in the [http://cmo.stsci.edu/ Community Missions Office] at the Space Telescope Science Institute. He is one of the creators of the [http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/gsky/ GoogleSky] concept.

Professional career

Conti was born in Palmanova, Italy. He received his laurea degree in physics from the University of Trieste, Italy, with a thesis titled “Binary Galaxies in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) Redshift Survey.” During the following two years, he worked on the largest sample (at the time) of optical rotation curves of galaxies at the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), in Trieste. There he developed algorithms to automate the extraction of physical parameters from galactic rotation curves, paving the way for the analysis of much larger samples. He has since specialized in statistical methods, computational astrophysics, and large datasets.

in 2000 Conti graduated from the Ohio State University with a Ph.D. thesis on correlating galactic properties with the physics of galaxy formation. He then became a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Pittsburgh.

In 2003, Conti joined the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) to co-lead the development of a new archive for the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). He integrated this effort with work on the National Virtual Observatory.

In January 2005, he became Branch Manager for the Astronomy Tools and Applications (ASTTA) branch at STScI’s Engineering System and Software Division. ASTTA develops some of the best-known software products for the astronomical community, such as [http://www.stsci.edu/hst/proposing/apt Astronomer Proposal Tool] , [http://www.stsci.edu/resources/software_hardware/pyraf PyRAF] , and [http://stsdas.stsci.edu/multidrizzle/ Multidrizzle] .

At the 15th annual [http://www.adass.org:8080/Conferences/2005/Venue/ ADASS] conference in October 2005, Conti became interested in the Google Earth software that allows anyone to browse earth with a simple point-and-click interface. Back at STScI he sent a proposal to John Hanke, the Head of Google Earth and Google Maps, to extend the Google Earth interface to space-based data. Hanke agreed to have Brian McClendon establish a project plan for such a product, called GoogleSky. The project, co-led with Dr. Carol Christian, started on April 11, 2006 at Google with this [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2oa8PAOsdE tech talk] .

In September 2006, Conti became Chief Engineer for the Data Management System at STScI. Following his involvement with Google he became Development Manager at STScI’s [http://cmo.stsci.edu/ Community Missions Office (CMO)] . CMO serves as the conduit between mission teams and STScI personnel to ensure support for mission science operations, data archiving, grants administration, peer review and education/outreach.

In 2008 Conti received first prize in the Pirelli Internetional Awards for the development of GoogleSky. [http://www.pirelliaward.com/index.html]

Scientific Works

* Bianchi et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006astro.ph.11926B "Statistical Properties of the GALEX/SDSS matched source catalogs, and classification of the UV sources"] , 2006astro.ph.11926B
* Carol Christian et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006IAUSS...2E..28C "Visualizing Large Astronomical Data Holdings"] , 2006IAUSS...2E..28C
* Conti et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006ASPC..351..747C "The GALEX science data archive, and the discovery potential from multi-wavelength surveys"] , 2006ASPC..351..747C
* Carol Christian et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2006AAS...208.6706C "A User Interface Proof of Concept: GoogleEarth Applied to Astronomical Data"] ,2006AAS...208.6706C
* Kamp et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2005ASPC..347..208K "MAST in the Context of VO Activities"] ,2005ASPC..347..208K
* Kamp et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004astro.ph.12541K "The Multimission Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute in the context of VO activities"] ,2004astro.ph.12541K
* Budavari et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004AAS...205.4204B "GALEX-SDSS Crossmatch In The Database"] ,2004AAS...205.4204B
* Conti, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004AAS...205.2510C "Classification and properties of astrophysical objects from the matched GALEX and SDSS catalogs"] ,2004AAS...205.2510C
* Haridas et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004ASPC..314..424H "Making FITS available on Dot Net and its applications"] ,2004ASPC..314..424H
* Smith et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004AAS...204.7609S "Portal to the GALEX Data Archive"] ,2004AAS...204.7609S
* Conti et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AJ....126.2330C "The Star Formation History of Galaxies Measured from Individual Pixels. I. The Hubble Deep Field North"] ,2003AJ....126.2330C
* Conti and Connolly, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AAS...19911105C "Angular Clustering and the Role of Photometric Redshifts"] ,2001AAS...19911105C
* Conti, Ryden and Weinberg, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001astro.ph.11001C "From Correlations of Galaxy Properties to the Physics of Galaxy Formation: A Theoretical Framework"] ,2001astro.ph.11001C
* Graff and Conti, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000AAS...196.0706G "Estimating astrometric uncertainty of unresolved objects: Are there really moving objects in the Hubble Deep Field?"] ,2000AAS...196.0706G
* Conti, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000PhDT.........5C "Interpreting the Properties of Galaxies"] ,2000PhDT.........5C
* Monier et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999AAS...195.1703M "Quasar Candidates in the Hubble Deep Field South"] ,1999AAS...195.1703M
* Conti, Ryden and Weinberg, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999AAS...195.0921C "A Theoretical Framework for Interpreting Principal Component Analysis of the Properties of Galaxies."] ,1999AAS...195.0921C
* Berlind and Conti, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999AAS...195.0906B "The Evolution of Galaxy Sizes in the Hubble Deep Field"] ,1999AAS...195.0906B
* Conti et al, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999AJ....117..645C "Quasar Candidates in the Hubble Deep Field"] ,1999AJ....117..645C
* Ashman, Conti and Zepf, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995AJ....110.1164A "Globular Cluster Systems as Distance Indicators Metallicity Effects on the Luminosity Function"] ,1995AJ....110.1164A
* Ashman, Conti and Zepf, [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1994AAS...185.5201A "Globular Cluster Systems as Distance Indicators"] ,1994AAS...185.5201A

External links

* [http://www.stsci.edu/~aconti Personal Homepage]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2oa8PAOsdE 2007 Google TechTalk - New Frontiers in Astronomy: Hubble and beyond (with Carol Christian)]
* " [http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/galform.htm New technique to help astronomers deal with wealth of data] ",The Ohio State University Research News, 2000
* [http://www.friulinnovazione.it/index.php?page=CN.2005.0032&item=rs.0010 Parco Scientifico e Technologico Luigi Danieli]
* [http://lahmu.phyast.pitt.edu/~astrocoffee/Coffee/about.html AstroCoffe]

References

*Keith M. Ashman and Steve E. Zepf, "Globular Cluster Systems", (Cambridge Astrophysics) ISBN 0-521-550-57-2
*Carol Christian et al, [http://www.us-vo.org/pubs/index.cfm "The NVO Web Interface: Science Usability, The US-VO Publications Repository"] , 2006-04