InfoCoBuild

Cosmic Concepts

From the earliest times, humans have looked up at the stars and been fascinated. They learned to use them to find their way, to mark and predict the passage of the seasons. When we look across the Universe our horizons are broadened and our eyes are lifted above and beyond our own planet. In this first lecture series Astronomy Professor Katherine Blundell will be looking at how concepts developed in physics and cosmology have led to some of our most surprising discoveries about the Universe.

Katherine Blundell was appointed Gresham Professor of Astronomy in 2019. She is a Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University and a Research Fellow at St John's College. (from gresham.ac.uk)

01. Faster than Light?
This talk will explain how the speed of light was first measured, and how Albert Einstein deduced that the speed of light is the upper speed limit for everything in the Universe.

02. Frozen in Time?
Most information from outer space reaches us at the speed of light and this governs our understanding of time and evolution in the cosmos.

03. The End of Matter?
Black holes give rise to some of the most spectacular phenomena we see in the cosmos.

04. Shapes of Free Fall
The shapes of the orbits of many planets and comets orbiting their mother-ship stars are well known to be circles or ellipses (an idea that was explained by Isaac Newton).

05. Simple Laws, Spectacular Astrophysics
The laws of physics may be stated in simple and elegant ways that can be made easy to demonstrate and understand on their own.

06. Perceptions, Expectations, and Discoveries
The Greeks famously identified many patterns and rhythms in the sky, deducing detailed information about eclipses and orbits that still have relevance today.