Lecture series to begin with a (big) bang

Who better to explain the past and the future of the universe than a Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist? 

The 2011 Nobel Laureate for Physics, Professor Brian Schmidt, will next week speak at Monash University on his ground-breaking discovery that not only is the universe getting bigger, it's expanding at an ever-increasing rate. 

The free public lecture, the first in a series to be hosted by the Monash Centre for Astrophysics (MoCA), is aimed at interested members of the public - they will be able to ask questions after the talk.

Professor Schmidt, of the Australian National University, and his team traced the history of space back 13 billion years to discover that galaxies are moving away from each other increasingly quickly. This movement suggests that they're being driven by a previously unknown force which has been named Dark Energy. This strange new physics could comprise up to 70 per cent of the energy in the universe. 

Professor John Lattanzio, Director of MoCA, said Professor Schmidt was the perfect speaker for a series aimed at making the highly complex field of astrophysics more accessible to the public. 

"Brian is a highly engaging speaker and we're delighted that he agreed to share his knowledge with us, and to kick off our new lecture series," Professor Lattanzio said.

"Understanding the mysteries of the universe is a monumental challenge but it's also a fascinating field and we want to share some of these discoveries with people outside the academic community.

"The discovery, in 1998, that the universe was expanding was a jolt to our understanding of the universe.

"Since the Big Bang was proposed in the 1950s we have believed that gravity was drawing galaxies together, essentially slowing the initial expansion. Brian's research makes the future look very different."

Future speakers in the series will include Professor Chris Tinney of UNSW, who leads the Australian search for planets outside our solar system. He will talk on the success of this program and the implications of finding so many planets in our Galaxy.

Professor Brian Schmidt will speak at Monash University Clayton campus at 6pm, Wednesday 15 February, 2012. For full details, please see the MoCA website.