The sky is filled with hundreds of billion galaxies, all lit up by their stars. But stars account for less than one percent of the material in the Universe, and galaxies are held together by a new form of matter -- dark matter -- that accounts for 1/3 of the "stuff" in the Universe. The other 2/3 exists as in an even more mysterious form -- dark energy -- and is causing the expansion of the Universe to speed up, rather than slow down.

The lecture is part of the annual Maurer Lecture Series. It is free and open to the public. The purpose of the lecture is to bring distinguished scienetists and educators to the campus and to the general public to increase awareness of recent scientific advances. The public lecture will be followed by a colloquium on Friday, April 2, 4:00-5:00 pm in Physics 133. The colloquium topic will be "Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe: New Physics or the New Aether".

Maurer lectures have been organized every year since 1995. Past lectures have included N. Bloembergen, William Phillips (both Nobel Laureates), Richard Zare, Lawrence Krauss (author, astrophysicist), and Phillip Morrison, Steven Chu, and Leon Lederman, among others. These lectures were co-sponsored by ASGC.

For more information contact the Physics Department at (479) 575-2506