Princeton University Astrophysical Sciences 2024 Spitzer Lecturer

JWST has the powerful new capability to both measure the structural and stellar population properties of distant galaxies through deep near-infrared imaging and probe emission lines and continuum spectroscopically. The combination of these probes has enabled the discovery of new populations of galaxies and active galactic nuclei (AGN) during and before the height of cosmic reionization. In this talk, I will discuss the discovery and characterization of these exciting populations of galaxies and AGN, summarize what we have learned about their role in cosmic structure formation, and identify the remaining unanswered questions they pose about the physics of early galaxy formation.