{"id":126,"date":"2017-08-18T14:11:29","date_gmt":"2017-08-18T18:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/?page_id=126"},"modified":"2017-09-07T10:53:11","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T14:53:11","slug":"sept-19-the-big-bang-and-the-origin-of-the-universe","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/st132origins\/sept-19-the-big-bang-and-the-origin-of-the-universe\/","title":{"rendered":"Sept. 19 The Big Bang and the Origin of the Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"
Abstract:<\/div>\n
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Does our Universe have a finite origin or has it existed unchanged for all eternity? \u00a0Either answer has profound implications about the nature of our reality. \u00a0I will discuss how astronomers came to the conclusion that the Universe, and time itself, had a beginning in the Big Bang, about 14 billion years ago. \u00a0I will describe the physics behind the Big Bang and what modern observations tell us about\u00a0the structure and evolution of the Universe over cosmic time<\/span>\u00a0and how the contents of the Universe will dictate its ultimate fate.<\/span><\/div>\n

Biosketch:
\nDale Kocevski is an assistant professor in the\u00a0Physics and Astronomy Department at Colby College. \u00a0Dale attended the University of Michigan as an undergraduate and later obtained a PhD in Astrophysics at the\u00a0Institute for Astronomy at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu. \u00a0He performed his\u00a0postdoctoral work at the\u00a0University of California in both Davis and Santa Cruz. \u00a0Dale\u2019s research focuses on the study of supermassive black holes and how they affect the growth and evolution of distant galaxies. \u00a0Dale\u2019s work utilizes\u00a0multi-wavelength observations ranging from the X-ray to the infrared, with a particular focus on imaging from NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope. \u00a0Dale has served on numerous advisory panels for NASA and has helped shape the direction of Hubble\u2019s science mission.<\/p>\n