The Surprising Expansion History of the Universe

media release: Astronomer and Nobel Prize winner Adam Riess will speak at Shannon Hall in Memorial Union Apr. 30 at 7 p.m. on his Nobel Prize winning research on the expansion of the universe as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) Committee's free lecture lineup.

The event, titled “Adam Riess: The Surprising Expansion History of the Universe,” is a Donald Kerst Lecture Series Event, and will feature a 60-minute lecture followed by a 30-minute audience Q&A. Tickets will become available on Apr. 23, with a limit of one ticket per person. Registration for the event will be available on the Wisconsin Campus Arts Ticketing Page.

In 2011, Adam Riess was named a co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics and was awarded the Albert Einstein Medal for his leadership in the High-z Supernova Search Team’s discovery that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating, a phenomenon widely attributed to a mysterious, unexplained "dark energy" filling the universe. The discovery was named by Science magazine in 1998 as "the Breakthrough Discovery of the Year."

Leader of the SHOES Team, a group of scientists studying the obstacles to determine the nature of dark energy, Dr. Riess works to improve the measurement of the Hubble Constant and the Higher-z Team to find and measure the most distant type Ia supernovae known to probe the origin of cosmic acceleration.

Dr. Riess’s additional awards include a MacArthur Fellowship in 2008, the Gruber Foundation Cosmology Prize in 2007 (shared), and the Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2006.

“It’s everywhere, really. It’s been between the galaxies. It is in this room. We believe that everywhere that you have space, empty space, that you cannot avoid having some of this dark energy,” Dr. Riess said in a 2012 interview with NPR. “I think the mystery of what’s out there in the universe is just very compelling.” 

Adam Riess is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Thomas J. Barber Professor in Space Studies at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, a distinguished astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

The student-led WUD DLS Committee brings engaging and influential people to the UW–Madison campus to encourage thought-provoking conversations. WUD includes 11 committees and six Wisconsin Hoofers clubs that program thousands of events each year.

Patrons can learn more about the upcoming free talk featuring Adam Riess here.