Monthly Meeting November – Strange Nature of Time across the Universe – how does time work in Einstein’s cosmos

Strange Nature of Time across the Universe – how does time work in Einstein’s cosmos

Time. We never seem to have enough of it. Clocks tick reliably, one second at a time, as deadlines loom. Yet in our modern understanding of the universe, time loses its rigidity and reveals a more fluid nature. In this talk, we’ll explore the nature of time across the cosmos and examine the experiments that show how time once ran slower, much, much slower, when the universe was young. But what does this relative nature of time truly mean? Could it offer a way to gain more time to meet our deadlines? And what does it imply for one of the greatest mysteries in physics: is it possible to break the barrier and actually travel through time?

Geraint F. Lewis was born in Old South Wales and studied astrophysics at the University of London before earning his PhD from Cambridge in 1995. After research positions in the US and Canada, he moved to Australia in 2000, where he is now Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Sydney. His research spans the influence of dark energy and dark matter on cosmic evolution, the use of gravitational lensing to probe the nature of quasars and the distribution of dark matter, and the dynamics of galactic cannibalism in the Local Group. Geraint is also a passionate science communicator, with several books and numerous public talks exploring the deep questions of cosmology, physics and the meaning of reality.