Abstract

Since launching on Christmas Day, 2021, JWST has produced spectacular views of the Universe, both near and far. I will describe observations of some of the most distant galaxies yet through near-infrared spectroscopy with NIR Spec. With my colleagues on the NIR Spec and NIR Cam instrument science teams of JWST , we are undertaking large JADES survey to explore galaxy evolution into the epoch of reionization (the first billion years of history). We have recently spectroscopically confirmed galaxies at redshifts beyond 10 for the first time, including spectacular spectrum of a galaxy which unexpectedly has Lyman-alpha in emission, as well as a suggestion of non-standard elemental abundance ratios. I will discuss the implications of these recent discoveries for our understanding of galaxy evolution, and the potential role of star-forming galaxies at redshifts beyond 6 in reionizing the inter-galactic medium