What is the Big Bang and what was going on just after it happened? We know what the universe looks like now but what will it look like in another 13.5 billion years, twice its current estimated age?
Malcolm Longair, professor of natural philosophy and head of the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge will answer these and other questions about the cosmos at a free public lecture next month.
A noted public speaker and an expert at making the very complex sound very simple, Longair delivers an Academy Times lecture organised by The Irish Times and the Royal Irish Academy and sponsored by Depfa Bank plc on March 31st at 6.30pm at Trinity College.
The Big Bang and its Aftermath is the title chosen by Longair for his talk. It will explain the Big Bang and what evidence exists for it. It will also describe conditions millionths of a second after the explosion that created space-time and the expanding universe that followed.
Longair specialises in making himself understood. He delivered a series of Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for young people on television on the origins of the universe. He is currently also the Institute of Physics Fellow in the Public Understanding of Physics.
He has held many highly respected positions within the field of astronomy, serving as the ninth Astronomer Royal of Scotland as well as the Regius Professor of Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh and the director of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. His main research areas focus on high-energy astrophysics and astrophysical cosmology.
The lecture takes place on Thursday April 14th at 6.30pm in the Burke Theatre, Trinity College Arts Block. The talk is free but must be booked in advance due to the limited number of seats available. Tickets may be booked on the Royal Irish Academy's website at www.ria.ie and a small number of tickets will also be available by dialling 01-6762570.
Dick Ahlstrom