The first galaxies
Studies of galaxies in the first billion years of cosmic history likely hold the keys to solving a number of long-standing puzzles in astronomy - including the nature of the very first stars, the origin of supermassive black holes and the reionization of the Universe. At the current time, galaxies at redshifts above 6 can be studied by a combination of the Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer, ALMA and 8-10 m optical/near-infrared telescopes on the ground. However, the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2019 will revolutionize our view of these objects. In this talk, I will explain what we currently know about the properties of the first generations of galaxies and what we are hoping to learn in the near-future.