Astronomy for All: The Universe from Beginning to End
Saturday 12 September 2026 18:00 to 19:30Speakers: |
Professor Brian Schmidt |
Location
Sohmen Concert Hall, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Oxford
About the lecture
Astronomers have pieced together the story of our Universe that begins more than 13 billion years ago with the Big Bang. In this lecture, Nobel Prize winner Prof Brian Schmidt will describe the journey that science has thus far taken to understand our Universe, describing what we know about the cosmos and how we know it, as well as reflecting on some of the mysteries that remain. A chance for non-specialists to learn a bit about the history of the Universe, from the Big Bang to its distant future.
Chaired by Professor Rob Fender (Professor of Astrophysics, University of Oxford).
This lecture is part of Green Templeton’s Astronomy for All series, highlighting the college’s connections to the University of Oxford Astrophysics sub-department.
All welcome, but registration is strongly recommended as capacity is limited.
About the speaker
Brian Schmidt is Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the Australian National University and was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, jointly with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter, for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe. His research spans supernovae, gamma ray Bursts, gravitational wave transients, exo-planets, and metal poor stars.
Born and raised in Montana and Alaska, USA, he studied at the University of Arizona and Harvard where he completed his PhD in 1993. He joined the staff of the Australia National University in 1995 and served as 12th Vice-Chancellor and President from 2016 to 2023. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Australian Academy of Science, and a Companion of the Order of Australia.
