Abstract: The launch and commissioning of the James Webb Space Telescope is ushering in a new era in our understanding of our cosmic origins. Galaxies are a fundamental building block of the universe, yet how they formed has remained enigmatic owing to our inability to observe them at early cosmic times. In just its first three years of operation, JWST has already upended our understanding of galaxy and black hole growth in the early universe. In this talk I will discuss some of the surprising results that have come out of our work with JWST and their impact on our understanding of the formation and evolution of galaxies and black holes. This includes remarkably mature galaxies at early times, bulges where we thought there were none, a new method for measuring galaxy kinematics that has revealed galaxies lacking dark matter, and perhaps a theorized but never before observed early phase of supermassive black hole growth. I’ll conclude with a discussion of where the field is moving and the rich discovery space in this new era of extragalactic astrophysics.
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