"Heart of Darkness" – talk by Jeremiah D. Ostriker on Sept. 11, 2007

The Excellence Cluster 'Universe' is proud to host a talk by one of the most influential researchers in theoretical astrophysics: On September 11, 2007 Jeremiah (Jerry) D. Ostriker will talk about the "Heart of Darkness" - the finding that most of the Universe is made up by either "dark matter" or "dark energy".

The talk takes place at the Max-Planck-Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Neuer Seminarraum at 7:30 pm. For directions, please click here.

Astronomers of the world over are still trying to explain the elusive presence of dark matter in the Universe – a presence with nothing except its weight to prove its existence. So far all it has is a name: dark matter. More recently still, researchers have discovered strong evidence to suggest that alongside this dark matter is an even stranger component of “dark energy”, which dominates gravity and is causing the Universe to expand at an ever accelerating rate. What this means for the future of this Universe is something we can still only guess at ...

by B. Wankerl