New Cosmology To Be Subejct Of Institute Lecture

Astrophysicist David Spergel, W.M. Keck Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, will speak on "The New Cosmology" on December 6 at 4:30 p.m. in Wolfensohn Hall on the Institute campus. A reception will follow the lecture.

"Over the past few years, there have been dramatic improvements in our understanding of the universe," says Spergel. "For decades, astronomers have debated whether the universe will expand forever or will eventually collapse. Recent observations of distant supernovae, combined with observations of tiny fluctuations in the microwave background, suggest that the universe will expand forever."

Further, he says, "These observations imply that most of the mass in the universe is not in the form of atoms but some new, yet unidentified form of matter. Observations also suggest that there is energy associated with empty space."

In his lecture, Spergel will review such recent observations and describe NASA's MAP satellite (scheduled for launch in June 2001), "which will make precision tests of our cosmological models and probe the beginnings of the universe."

Spergel is a theoretical astrophysicist whose interests range from the search for planets around nearby stars to the shape of the universe. He also works on the formation and evolution of galaxies. A 1982 graduate of Princeton, he was a visiting scholar at Oxford University before earning his Ph.D. in 1985 at Harvard University. After three years as a long-term member of the Institute, he joined the Princeton University faculty in 1987; he is currently professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton. A member of the National Academy of Sciences committees on Astronomy and Astrophysics, on Gravity Physics, and on the Physics of the Universe, he is a former Sloan Research Fellow and Presidential Young Investigator.

Spergel’s talk is one of a series of public lectures presented by faculty members of the Institute for Advanced Study throughout the year.