Echoes from the Beginning
A Journey through Space and Time
In what many call a "golden age of cosmology", astronomers can now observe the universe with unprecedented precision, resulting in spectacular progress in the search for the origin of the universe. Yet, for all the impressive progress, fundamental questions remain. What is the mysterious "dark energy" driving space to rapidly expand? What existed before the big bang? Is there an origin of time? Do we live in a multiverse?
Our audience joined Science Friday’s Ira Flatow in conversation with leading cosmologists Lawrence Krauss, Paul Steinhardt, and Lyman Page, and historian of science Helge Kragh as they discussed and debated new advances that are shaping our understanding of the cosmic order and our place within it.
Ira Flatow is an award-winning radio and television journalist, who has been interviewing top scientists and researchers for over thirty-five years. He is the host of National Public Radio’s Science Friday and is the author of several acclaimed science books.
Helge Kragh is a leading science historian whose research focuses on the history of cosmology. He is the author of several books including, Cosmology and Controversy and Conceptions of the Cosmos. Kragh is a professor in the History of Science Department at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.
Internationally known theoretical physicist and best-selling author Lawrence Krauss has focused his research on the intersection on cosmology and elementary particle physics. Dr. Krauss’s work addresses questions about the origin of matter in the universe, Einstein’s theory of general relativity, astrophysics, the future of the universe and the properties and description of the dark energy that is thought to account for most of the universe’s present energy content.
Physicist Lyman Page measures and observes cosmic radiation left over from the Big Bang to better understand the very early universe and how it has since evolved. He is the Henry DeWolf Smyth Professor of Physics at Princeton University.
Paul Steinhardt is a theoretical physicist and one of the architects of the "inflationary model" which says the universe began a rapid, accelerated expansion shortly after the Big Bang. He is the Albert Einstein Professor of Science and professor of theoretical physics at Princeton University.This event made possible with the support of
as part of the Big Ideas Series
