Newswise — January 13, 2015 (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) – The past several decades have seen transformative progress in cosmology – the study of the origins, evolution, and fate of the universe. Powerful experiments, made possible by recent advances in technology, have sharpened our understanding of the universe, and unveiled vexing new puzzles to be solved.
On February 4, leading cosmologist Kendrick Smith will deliver a kind of “State of the Universe Address,” sharing how far cosmology has come in recent years, and how much more there is yet to learn.
The free webcast, titled “Cosmology in the 21st Century,” is part of the Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series presented by Sun Life Financial. During the talk, Smith will provide an accessible and fascinating overview of what we know about time and space on the grandest scales.
Smith, a Faculty member at Perimeter Institute, will explore the yet-unsolved mysteries of dark matter (the invisible gravitational glue of the universe), the quantum mechanical nature of the big bang, and the new questions that future generations of scientists will tackle.
“We’ve only just recently been able to learn really fundamental facts about the universe we live in, and we don’t really know what we’re going to find next,” says Smith.
Smith’s “data-oriented” research is a mixture of theoretical physics, computational physics, statistics, phenomenology, and data analysis. He has been a key member of several world-leading experiments, including the Planck and WMAP satellites, the latter of which earned Smith and the WMAP team the 2012 Gruber Cosmology Prize. Smith has PhDs in both mathematics and physics, and he completed postdoctoral positions at Cambridge University and Princeton University before joining Perimeter Institute’s faculty in 2012.
“This is a particularly exciting time to be doing cosmology,” he says. “The more you learn, the more you appreciate the mystery – that sense of wonder never goes away.”
Smith’s public lecture will be webcast live on Wednesday Feb. 4, 2015, at 7 pm EST. Online viewers can pose questions to Smith by tweeting to @Perimeter and using the hashtag #piLIVE. Click here to sign up to receive an email reminder about the live webcast.
View past PI Public Lectures and events, and find further details about PI’s research, training, and outreach activities at http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca.
________________________________________LIVE WEBCAST DETAILS• What: Kendrick Smith, Cosmology in the 21st Century• When: Wednesday, February 4, 7 pm EST • Where: Live at Perimeter Institute, webcast online at http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca• Click here to sign up to receive an email reminder about the live webcast• Pose questions for Smith by tweeting @Perimeter using the hashtag #piLIVE• More info: http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/outreach/general-public/public-lecture-series________________________________________
ABOUT PERIMETER INSTITUTEPerimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (PI) is an independent, non-profit, scientific research organization working to advance our understanding of physical laws and develop new ideas about the very essence of space, time, matter, and information. Located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, PI also provides a wide array of research training and educational outreach activities to nurture scientific talent and share the importance of discovery and innovation among students, teachers, and the general public. In partnership with the Governments of Ontario and Canada, PI is a successful example of public-private collaboration in scientific research, training, and outreach. http://www.perimeterinstitute.ca/ @Perimeter
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:Eamon O’FlynnExternal Relations Specialisteoflynn[at]perimeterinstitute[dot]ca(519) 569-7600 x5071@Perimeter
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