Lecture looks back to the birth of the stars

July 13, 2007

A public lecture at the University of New England will trace the history of modern cosmology from the discovery – in 1965 – of the background radiation from the "Big Bang" to today's more detailed picture of the first few moments of the universe.

The free, fully illustrated talk, on Sunday 22 July, will be the first item in a program of workshops, lectures and demonstrations to be brought to Armidale by the "Kickstart" team from the University of Sydney.

The "Kickstart" program, primarily aimed at Higher School Certificate Physics students and teachers, is returning to Armidale and UNE after its initial – highly successful – visit last year. The workshops for students address specific components of the HSC Physics syllabus, and those for teachers facilitate discussion on aspects of the syllabus. The workshops, as well as lunchtime lectures on relativity and astrophysics, will be at UNE on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 July.

There will also be a presentation for primary school students (and parents), titled "The great physics air show", in UNE's Biological Sciences Lecture Theatre at 4.15 pm on Monday 23 July. The "Kickstart" team say this free show, "for all kids aged 9 to 109", will demonstrate "lots of amazing science about air".

The public lecture on the Sunday, titled "From quarks to the cosmos – the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physics", will be at 6 pm in the Biological Sciences Lecture Theatre, UNE. Associate Professor Geraint Lewis from the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Sydney will begin his story with the discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background which won Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson the 1978 Nobel Prize.

"Little did they know that the background radiation carries a deeper secret – a picture of the universe at the very earliest moments – which depicts the seething of the quantum vacuum throughout the cosmos," Dr Lewis said. "The 2006 Nobel Prize was awarded to George Smoot and John Mather, who revealed this picture in amazing detail, showing the seeds that grew into the stars and galaxies we see around us today."

Dr Lewis will explain – in simple terms – the ramifications of Smoot and Mather's Nobel Prize-winning discoveries.

The dynamic "Kickstart" team of physics demonstrators will be on the last leg of a country tour taking them to Wagga Wagga and Dubbo as well as Armidale.

For more information on the "Kickstart" program, or to reserve a place for the free public lecture or "The great physics air show", e-mail: outreach@physics.usyd.edu.au or phone 0414 94 5577. For more information on the UNE venue, phone Dr James Buick, UNE Physics and Electronics, on (02) 6773 2597.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at July 13, 2007 03:29 PM