VIES is fortunate to have a leading member of Canada’s team who will describe the innovative engineering behind JWST and Canada’s significant contribution to the success of this major international project.
Canada as a key JWST partner designed and constructed two key instruments: FGS and NIRISS:

• Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) - allows the telescope to point at and focus on objects of interest. FGS allows JWST to determine position; locate celestial targets; track moving targets; and remain steadily locked or pointed, with very high precision, on to specific celestial targets. FGS’ two cameras are critical to JWST's ability to "see" as JWST must have a precise and stable eye on the universe. The FGS is crucial to aligning and fine-tuning JWST's 6.5 metre mirror.

• Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) - determines the composition of exoplanet atmospheres, observes distant galaxies, and examines close together objects. It is sensitive to infrared wavelengths.

JWST Partners: NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), CSA (Canadian Space Agency)

In return for Canada’s major contribution, Canadian researchers will have access to 5% of the observing time available to the international community.

Chris Willott, PhD, Canadian JWST Project Scientist, National Research Council of Canada, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre

Dr. Chris Willott received his B.Sc. in Physics/Astrophysics from the University of Birmingham in 1994 and his Ph.D. in Astrophysics from the University of Oxford in 1998. He joined Herzberg in 2002. Chris is the Canadian Webb Project Scientist and the Webb Archive Scientist at the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre. Chris has worked on JWST for 16 years and as Canada’s JWST Project Scientist, his job is to enable Canadian scientists to maximize the Government of Canada's investment in JWST. JWST was launched on Christmas Day, 2021 and released its first operational pictures on July 13th, 2022. Chris is also the Principal Investigator of The CAnadian NIRISS Unbiased Cluster Survey (CANUCS) which studies galaxies in the early universe. He continues to study the growth of supermassive black holes and their host galaxies over cosmic time. He is active in professional groups, including Member of the James Webb Space Telescope Science Working Group; and a Member of the Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA). He has also won key awards, including Canadian Space Agency Fellow (2007 – 2008) and Plaskett Fellowship, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, NRC (2002-2006).