Physics expert discusses dark energy

Supernovae — the explosions of stars — have been utilized to probe vast, cosmological distances and have brought about some astonishing results, including the 1998 discovery of dark energy.

Louis-Gregory Strolger, associate professor of physics and astronomy at Western Kentucky University, will give a talk “Supernovae, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe,” at Grand Valley State University on February 27.

Strolger made important contributions to the study of dark energy with the three 2011 Nobel Physics laureates while serving as a postdoctoral researcher. He said the discovery of dark energy has marked an unprecedented change in the understanding of the cosmos, and now presents a fundamental challenge to the foundations of physics.

Supernovae, Dark Energy, and the Accelerating Universe
Monday, February 27
7 p.m.
Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center
Pew Grand Rapids Campus

Strolger is chair of the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Users Committee and is a lead investigator in a project using the Hubble Space Telescope to probe dark energy. He also serves as chair of both the American Physical Society’s Committee on the Status of Minorities in Physics and the American Astronomical Society’s Committee on the Status of Minorities in Astronomy.

The event is co-sponsored by the GVSU Society of Physics Students and the Department of Physics. Visit www.gvsu.edu/physics for more information or call (616) 331-2274.