Lars Lindberg Christensen

Lars is an award-winning astronomer and science communicator. He has authored a dozen popular science books translated into more than ten languages. He is responsible for the communication for some of the world's largest and most famous telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope (for ESA), and ESO's Extremely Large Telescope. He has produced for a multitude of different media from planetarium shows, laser shows, to web, social media, print, TV and radio. Lars has more than 200 publications to his credit, most of them in popular science communication and its theory. Lars received the Tycho Brahe Medal in 2005 for his achievements in science communication and has been credited with leading the most successful outreach efforts in ESO's history. Lars has produced material for a variety of media ranging from laser shows, slide shows, planetarium shows to web, print, social media, to TV and radio. His methodology is focused on devising and implementing innovative strategies for the production of efficient science communication and educational material. This work involves working with highly skilled graphics people and technicians. He produced the first Danish IMAX film clip, co-produced the first Danish planetarium shows, and led the effort that made ESO and ESA/Hubble the first scientific organization to distribute outreach videos online (via a Content Distribution Network), respectively in PAL (2002), HD (2008), UHD (2014) and planetarium fulldome formats (2014). His productions have received enthusiastic accolades from both specialists and public around the world. Lars is the Executive producer and Director of more than 10 documentaries and planetarium movies that have received critical acclaim around the world. such as Eyes on the Skies - 400 Years of Telescopic Discoveries (~440,000 DVDs distributed) and Hubble - 15 Years of Discovery (~840,000 DVDs distributed). Lars has directed or produced three full-length planetarium shows: From Earth to the Universe, Europe to the Stars and The Sun, Our Living Star. He initiated and managed the Portal to the Universe, Hubblecast and ESOcast projects.