Australian Institute of Physics

South Australian Branch

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Announcing a Joint Meeting of the

Australian Institute of Physics (SA branch)

and the

Astronomical Society of South Australia

8:00 pm, Wednesday September 2nd 1998

KERR-GRANT lecture theatre
University of South Australia
(enter off Frome Road)

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Bigger and Better Questions About the Big Bang:
Interesting Aspects of Cosmology

Dr. Charley Lineweaver
University of New South Wales

Abstract

Cosmology is our picture of the Universe on the largest scales. It is the scientific attempt to answer fundamental questions of mythical proportion: How did the Universe come to be? How did it evolve? How will it end? Are there other Universes?

A flood of new data is allowing cosmologists to sketch more accurate answers to these questions and to pose more appropriate questions. I will review the latest speculations and the most recent progress in cosmology. In particular I will describe how the most recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are leading to a revolution in our understanding of the Universe. For more details on my CMB research see Lineweaver 1998 (astro-ph/9805326).

Biography:
Dr. Charles H. Lineweaver received a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1994. He was a member of the COBE-DMR team which discovered temperature variations in the cosmic microwave background in 1992 -- a discovery which Stephen Hawking has called "the greatest discovery of the century, if not of all time". He is author of more than 30 articles dealing with the cosmic microwave background and an editor of the recently published "The Cosmic Microwave Background"^T(Kluwer, 1997). He has visited or lived in 57 countries and speaks four languages. He was a semi- professional soccer player and has a degree in history from the State University of New York at Binghamton and in English from Brown University. He is currently a Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow in the School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.

Banquet:
There will be a banquet beforehand at 6:15 pm sharp at the Bangkok Thai Restaurant, cost $20. The address is 217 Rundle Street, upstairs on the south-west corner of the Rundle St/Frome Road intersection. People attending the banquet should phone Maria on (08) 8302 3206 and let her know by noon on Monday 31st. August. A glass of wine or juice is provided by the AIP for persons at the banquet. The meeting will be followed by coffee/tea and biscuits provided by the ASSA.

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