|
The twentieth century marks the emergence of a modern cosmology
where fundamental questions about the nature of our universe are
routinely addressed observationally. This approach has been
phenomenally successful, producing the hot big bang model, a
resilient theoretical framework for understanding the origin and
evolution of the universe. These successes have been driven
largely by numerous technological advances, which allow astronomers
to study the universe in its infancy with greater and greater
precision. Today, new observations are providing the strongest
tests yet of our understanding of the universe.
These lectures are a discussion of the breakthroughs that led
to the big bang model and of highlights from ongoing, cutting-edge
research. Cosmology is a data driven science; thus, we will focus
on the fundamental observational breakthroughs. The first five
lectures cover the foundations of the big bang model; these include
discoveries of the expansion of the universe, the existence of the
cosmic microwave background and the resulting theoretical framework.
The last five lectures will describe ongoing efforts to map the
universe, to detail the nature of "dark" or unseen matter, and to
understand how the complex structures we see in the nearby universe
(such as stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies and larger scale
structures) arose from an astonishingly uniform early universe.
No scientific background is necessary. Just bring your curiosity
and share in some of the exciting new developments in big bang
cosmology!
|