The Dark Age of the Universe

Science for the Public and Belmont Public Library
May 12, 2015, Belmont Public Library, Belmont MA

Lincoln Greenhill, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Department of Astronomy, Harvard University and Radio Astronomer, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. information about LEDA
Research Website: Large Aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Ages (LEDA)


Lincoln Greenhill describes the time period between the Big Bang and emergence of the first stars and galaxies, and particularly a period of about one hundred million years when the universe became transparent but there was no light. This is known as the "Dark Age" of the universe. In this presentation, Dr. Greenhill discusses what astronomers today know about this important phase in the evolution of the cosmos and the radio telescopes that astronomers have recently begun to use to test their theories for the first time. He describes one facility that his team has helped build in California's Sierra mountains. He shows examples of the radio telescopes used by his team and also real-time radio astronomy data.