Della Pietra Lecture Series featuring Dr. Robert Kirshner

The Simons Center for Geometry and Physics is pleased to host the Della Pietra Lecture Series featuring Dr. Robert Kirshner


"A Nobel Surprise: The Accelerating Universe"

(General public lecture, all are welcome)

Tuesday, October 2, 2012
5:30pm

Wine and Cheese Reception at 5:00pm

SCGP Auditorium, Room 103

Observations of exploding stars halfway across the Universe show that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up.  We attribute this to a pervasive “dark energy” whose properties we would like to understand.  It might be the same thing as Einstein’s Cosmological Constant from 1917, which he later regarded as a great blunder.  I will show the evidence for cosmic acceleration, outline the present state of knowledge on dark energy, and suggest some ways to find out more about this deep cosmic mystery that lies at the heart of our understanding of gravitation and of our cosmic destiny.  The discovery of cosmic acceleration using supernovae was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics.

Click here for talk poster and details



Lecture and Reception is free and open to the public