Astro Seminar Series - VIA ZOOM

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 3:00 pm - 3:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)
Tamara Davis

Prof Tamara Davis did her PhD at the University of New South Wales in 2004 studying theoretical concepts behind the expanding universe and the entropy of the cosmological event horizon.  Since then she’s specialised in observational cosmology including supernova cosmology, baryon acoustic oscillations, and reverberation mapping of black holes, working with and helping lead parts of large projects such as the Dark Energy Survey.  Amongst her accolades are the Australian Academy of Science’s Nancy Millis Medal, the Astronomical Society’s of Australia’s Ellery Lectureship, and an Order of Australia.  She also is a passionate advocate for science in the community and the “Black Hole Hunters” documentary she hosted won the 2020 American Institute of Physics Science Communication Award.She did her PhD at the University of New South Wales on theoretical cosmology and black holes, then worked on supernova cosmology in two postdoctoral fellowships, the first at the Australian National University (collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and the second at the University of Copenhagen, before moving to Queensland to join the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey team working on mapping the galaxies in the universe. She led the Dark Theme within the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, is helping manage the OzDES survey - working with the international Dark Energy Survey, and is now working with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument project.

Talk Title and Abstract:

Cosmological Confusion...
...misconceptions about the big bang, the expansion of the universe and cosmic horizons

What is expanding space?  What came before the big bang?  Is there an edge to space?  What’s beyond the horizon of a black hole? Forget about the details of my research…  when I'm having a chat with family and friends these are the questions I’m asked.  So beef up your cocktail party conversation repertoire by hearing about these and other cosmological conundrums, such as how the expansion can exceed the speed of light without violating relativity, where the energy goes when light is redshifted by the expansion of the universe, and whether an infinitely long ruler could fit in the universe. 

Would you like to join this Zoom seminar?  Please email WCA.