The Unknown Universe

How well do we actually know the universe? Our understanding of the birth and evolution of the cosmos is an extraordinary feat of human reasoning.

In this talk, Stuart will explain how we have reached our modern picture of cosmology with its various components such as atoms, energy, dark matter and dark energy. Stuart will then talk about some recent and not-so-recent results that don’t seem to fit the picture. JWST may be about to blow our understanding of cosmology completely out of the water - or it may just cement it forever. Either way, it’s a fascinating story.

Biography

Dr Stuart Clark is an award-winning author and journalist. Formerly the European Space Agency’s senior editor for space science, he now owns Expanded Universe Ltd., a communications consultancy and content creation agency specially geared towards the space sector.

He is a consultant for New Scientist, the European Space Agency, International Moon Day; a columnist for The Guardian; and a contributor to The Observer and BBC Science Focus. In 2013, he was named European Astronomy Journalist of the Year.

His latest book, Beneath the Night: How the stars have shaped the history of humankind (Faber), was Editor’s choice in The Bookselling for September 2020. He wrote and presented The Music of the Spheres for BBC Radio 3 and From Enlightenment to Entanglement for BBC Radio 4.

Stuart holds a first class BSc in Astronomy with Physics and a PhD in astrophysics. In September 2020, he was awarded an (Hon) DSc from the University of Hertfordshire for “services to astronomy and the public understanding of science”.