Chicago goes dark for science: C2ST lecture Feb. 24

Particle physicist Joe Lykken (left), Fermilab; astrophysicist Rocky Kolb; and University of Chicago astrophysicist Michael Turner(on Lykken's shoulder), who served as moderator of the debate. Photo: Reidar Hahn, Fermilab. Photo-illustration: Sandbox Studio

Cosmologists have studied the sky and stars for decades, collecting more and more precise data.

And recently they have realized they don't know much.

The stars, planets, us-everything visible with a telescope-makes up only 1 percent of the universe. We can view another 3.5 percent-the hot gas left from cosmic explosions-with X-ray instruments.

That leaves nearly 95 percent of the universe a complete mystery.

Three prominent scientists: University of Chicago astrophysicst Rocky Kolb and cosmologist Michael Turner and Fermilab particle physics theorist Joe Lykken will explain this mystery and what it could mean to you during a lecture Feb. 24 in Chicago.

The lecture takes place in the Blackstone Hotel, 636 South Michigan Ave., Chicago. A reception takes place at 5:30 p.m. followed by the lecture at 6 p.m.

Sponsored by the Chicago Council on Science and Technology, the talk focuses on dark matter, which represents 24 percent of the universe and holds our galaxy together as well as dark energy, the other 71 percent of the universe. The repulsive gravity of dark energy has led to the accelerating expansion of our universe in the last decade.

The trio gave a similar talk at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. to rave reviews.

The lecture takes place in the Blackstone Hotel, 636 South Michigan Ave., Chicago. A reception takes place at 5:30 p.m. followed by the lecture at 6 p.m.

Seats for this program are free to C2ST members or by reservations for $15 on a first-come basis. To sign up, please email info@c2st.org or call (312) 503-0891.

--Tona Kunz

Fermilab, European accelerator race for glory

From Associated Press, Feb. 19, 2009

So, does the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's Tevatron accelerator have a shot against the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland?

It may not be the question all the boys at the end of bar are asking -- but it gets particle physicists psyched.

After all, the race is the one to find evidence of a hypothetical particle called the Higgs boson, better known as the "God Particle" because it is believed to give mass to matter that makes up the universe.

"This has been the holy grail of high energy physics for the last 30 years," said Joe Lykken, a senior scientist at Fermilab in the Chicago suburb of Batavia.

Read more

Stars of cosmology

From Scientific American, Feb. 18, 2009

In part 1 of this podcast, cosmologists Alan Guth from M.I.T., Arizona State University's Lawrence Krauss, John Carlstrom from the University of Chicago, and Fermilab's Scott Dodelson discuss the state of cosmology--and the universe's possible dismal future--at a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago on February 16.

Listen to Part 1

The cosmologists take questions in part two of this podcast.

Listen to Part 2