Cosmic Origins
Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Inflation: The Big Mysteries of Cosmology by Dr. Michael Turner. Our current cosmological model describes the evolution of the universe from a very early burst of accelerated expansion (known as inflation) a tiny fraction of a second after the beginning, through the assembly of galaxies and large-scale structure shaped by dark matter, to our present epoch where dark energy controls the ultimate fate of the universe.
As successful as it is, this model rests upon three mysterious pillars: inflation, dark energy and particle dark matter. All three point to exciting and important new physics that have yet to be revealed and understood - or possibly, to a fatal flaw in the paradigm.
Dr. Michael S. Turner, Professor, Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago.
| Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Inflation: The Big Mysteries of Cosmology |
| Related Links |
| Dark Matter and Dark Energy A collection of documentaries and lectures dealing with dark matter and dark energy thought to make up around 96% of the universe. |
| Stephen Hawking's Universe This is an astronomical documentary series, presented by Stephen Hawking, discussing the history of astronomy, origins of the universe, dark matter and black holes. |
| Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe Observations of very distant exploding stars show that the expansion of the Universe is now speeding up, rather than slowing down due to gravity as expected. |
| Frontiers and Controversies in Astrophysics This course focuses on three particularly interesting areas of astronomy that are advancing very rapidly: Extra-Solar Planets, Black Holes, and Dark Energy. |
| Cosmology During this course, you'll have the opportunity to study the cosmos from the modern perspective - what we know and what we're not sure about. |
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