Lecture 2004

Professor Michael S. Turner
National Science Foundation NSF

“Connecting Quarks with the Cosmos”

Today, cosmologists and particle physicists are asking many questions of the same questions, but for different reasons. Cosmologists want to understand the origin, evolution and destiny of the Universe and particle physicists want to understand the fundamental laws that govern it. Among the questions driving both fields are: Why is the expansion of the Universe speeding up? What is the dark matter?
How did the Universe begin? What is the origin of space and time? What are the masses of the neutrinos? Answering these questions will involve both new telescopes and new accelerators, and will profoundly advance our understanding of the universe and even our place within it.

Date: September 29, 2004 at DESY

Michael S. Turner, Biography
Michael S. Turner is the Assistant Director of the National Science Foundation for Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Rauner Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at The University of Chicago.
His honors include the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society, the Warner Prize of the American Astronomical Society, and membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences.
He is one of the pioneers of the interdisciplinary field that has brought together cosmologists and elementary particle physicists to study the earliest moments of creation, and his current research focuses on the mystery of cosmic acceleration, which he believes is the most profound mystery in all of science.