NewScientist talk with Katherine Freese: The Dark Side of the Universe

New Scientist presents ...

Online Event: The Dark Side of the Universe

7pm EST | Wednesday 21 February 2024

Katherine Freese, Director of the Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, Director of the Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (TCCAP)

The ordinary atoms that make up the known universe, from our bodies and the air we breathe to the planets and stars, constitute only 5% of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The remaining 95% is made up of a recipe of 25% dark matter and 70% dark energy, both nonluminous components whose nature remains a mystery.

In this talk, Katherine Freese will recount stories from her book The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter, from the discoveries of visionary scientists like Fritz Zwicky, the Swiss astronomer who coined the term ‘dark matter’ in 1933, to the deluge of data today from underground laboratories, satellites in space, and the Large Hadron Collider.

Theorists contend that dark matter consists of as yet undiscovered fundamental particles: candidates include WIMPs (or weakly interacting massive particles), primordial black holes, axions, and fuzzy dark matter. Billions of these particles pass through our bodies every second without us even realizing it, yet their gravitational pull is capable of whirling stars and gas at breakneck speeds around the centers of galaxies, and bending light from distant bright objects.

Join Katherine as she provides an overview of this cosmic cocktail, including the evidence for the existence of dark matter in galaxies. Many cosmologists believe we are on the verge of solving this mystery and this talk will provide the foundation needed to fully fathom this epochal moment in humankind's quest to understand the universe.

Katherine Freese is the Director of the Weinberg Institute for Theoretical Physics, the Director of the Texas Center for Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (TCCAP), and the Jeff & Gail Endowed Chair of Physics at the University of Texas, Austin. She served as Director of NORDITA, the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics, from 2014-2106 and is now Guest Professor at Stockholm University. She works on a wide range of topics in theoretical cosmology and astroparticle physics. She has been working to identify the dark matter and dark energy that permeate the universe as well as to build a successful model for the early universe immediately after the Big Bang. She is the author of a book The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark Matter, published in June 2014 by Princeton University Press. Freese has been very active in public outreach, including television, radio, public lectures, podcasts and public panels. Freese is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and she was awarded the Lilienfeld Prize from the American Physical Society in 2019 “For ground-breaking research at the interface of cosmology and particle physics, and her tireless efforts to communicate the excitement of physics to the general public.

Hosted by Leah Crane

Leah Crane is the physics and space reporter at New Scientist, covering topics ranging from private space flight to cosmology to quantum mechanics. She is based in Chicago. Prior to joining New Scientist in 2016, her work has been published at outlets including SpaceNews, Eos, Smithsonian Magazine, and Symmetry Magazine. She writes New Scientist's weekly space newsletter, Launchpad.

What's included in your ticket:

• Live lecture lasting 60 minutes including Q&A with Katherine Freese
• On-demand access to a recording of the lecture and Q&A for 12 months
• Access to exclusive New Scientist content

Booking information:

This online event will start at 7pm EST on Wednesday 21 February 2024 and will last for approximately one hour. Access to a recording of the event will be exclusively available to ticket purchasers for the 12 months following the live event. The on-demand recording will be available to view within 24 hours of the live discussion.

Eventbrite will email you a confirmation immediately after purchase. You will also receive a separate email from our virtual events platform, with a link to access the event auditorium prior to the event; please note that each link is unique and should not be shared. The event auditorium will also provide access to the other items included in your ticket.

Tickets are non-transferable to any other New Scientist event.

All tickets are non-refundable.

New Scientist reserves the right to alter the event and its line-up, or cancel the event. In the unlikely event of cancellation, all tickets will be fully refunded. New Scientist Ltd will not be liable for any additional expenses incurred by ticket holders in relation to the event.

Tickets are subject to availability and are only available in advance through Eventbrite. To secure your place we recommend you book in advance.