January 10, 2011

KSAS astrophysicist Charles Bennett to talk at APL

Launched in spring 2010, the Provost’s Lecture Series is designed to spread the wealth of academic excellence at Johns Hopkins among its campuses.

This week, astrophysicist Charles Bennett, a professor in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences’ Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, will travel to APL to offer an overview of what is known about our universe, how it is known and what questions remain unanswered.

In June 2010, Bennett was co-winner of the $1 million Shaw Prize in astronomy for groundbreaking research that has helped determine the precise age, composition and curvature of the universe. He was cited for his accomplishments as principal investigator of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, a spacecraft that in less than a decade has added significantly to knowledge of the universe’s history and structure. WMAP, launched in 2001, observes and measures the cosmic background radiation, the oldest light in the universe.

Bennett’s talk, scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 14, in Parsons Auditorium, is titled “Big Bang for the Buck: Cosmology From WMAP.”