On July 18, Prof. Dr. Masahiro Teshima was appointed as the new Spokesperson of the CTAO Consortium for the next three years. Prof. Teshima succeeds Prof. Werner Hofmann, one of the founding figures of the CTAO, who served as Spokesperson of the CTAO Consortium for more than 15 years. Prof. Hofmann’s tenure was distinguished by a strong spirit of collaboration and unwavering dedication to the advancement of the Observatory. We extend our profound gratitude to Prof. Hofmann for his significant and indispensable contributions to the CTAO during his tenure.
Prof. Teshima has been the Director of the Max-Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) in Munich, Germany, since 2003 and a Professor of the University of Tokyo, Japan, since 1987. With over 35 years of experience in Astroparticle Physics, primarily focused on (ultra-)high-energy cosmic and gamma-ray experiments, he has not only made significant contributions to the CTAO since its inception, but to various international projects throughout his extensive career.
He began his work in Japan with the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA), EUSO and the Telescope Array (TA; Cherenkov gamma-ray astronomy in the early phases). His contributions to the study of cosmic and gamma rays earned him the prestigious Shakti P. Duggal Award in 1993.
In 2003, when he moved to Germany as Director of the MPP, Prof. Teshima joined the MAGIC Collaboration, which operates the two MAGIC Telescopes, a predecessor of the CTAO, currently operative in La Palma. Upon his arrival, the first telescope was still under construction, but Prof. Teshima promptly initiated discussions to build a second telescope to create a more powerful stereo array. From 2005 to 2011, he not only contributed substantially to the development of MAGIC-I and MAGIC-II, but also assumed the roles of Spokesperson and Chair of the MAGIC Collaboration Board. In these positions, he helped consolidate the collaboration, where many young scientists were involved and trained in the emerging field of ground-based gamma-ray astronomy.
It was in 2005 that Prof. Teshima was instrumental in the proposal submission that led to the CTAO becoming an ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) project. And, in 2010, he officially shifted his focus to the next generation of ground-based gamma-ray instruments and became an active member of the CTAO. He is currently Delegate for Japan on the CTAO Board of Governmental Representatives and has been primarily engaged in the construction of the Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs).
As the CTAO LST Collaboration’s Principal Investigator, Prof. Teshima oversaw the construction of the LST prototype, the LST-1, following years of research, development, and prototyping telescope elements and subsystems. Completed and inaugurated in 2018, the LST-1, currently undergoing commissioning on the CTAO-North site in La Palma, Spain, has already demonstrated exceptional performance. Building on this success, Prof. Teshima and his colleagues from the LST Collaboration have advanced to the construction of the remaining three LSTs for the CTAO-North, which are expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Prof. Teshima will now assume the role of Spokesperson for the CTAO Consortium, a collaboration of 1,500 scientists from more than 150 institutes across 25 countries. The Consortium conceived the Observatory’s concept over a decade ago and the initial definition of its key science goals.
We wish you all the best in this new role at the CTAO, Prof. Teshima!