Astronomy in 2020: The Great Debates Today
Dr. John Mulchaey
Director, Carnegie Observatories
One hundred years ago, Carnegie Observatories’ founder George Ellery Hale convened The Great Debate, in which leading astronomers of the day argued whether spiral nebulae were inside the Milky Way or beyond it. The latter was confirmed by Carnegie astronomer Edwin Hubble, using his observations at Mt. Wilson to discover the Universe as we now know it to be. Today, astronomy is enmeshed in many “great debates,” including the nature of dark matter and dark energy, the expansion rate of the Universe, and the formation of planetary systems. Dr. Mulchaey will discuss current controversies in these areas, and will describe how research in the coming decade may finally resolve some of astronomy’s biggest mysteries.
Tickets will be available starting January 24th at Eventbrite.
A list of all talks in this series can be found here.