The University of Chicago

Enrico Fermi Institute

THE ARTHUR H. COMPTON LECTURES

Fifty-Ninth Series

The Age of Things:

  Sticks, Stones and the Universe

by MATTHEW HEDMAN
Reseach Associate, Enrico Fermi Institute and Research Fellow, Center for Cosmological Physics

In the upcoming series of lectures entitled: " The Age of Things: Sticks, Stones and the Universe ", Research Fellow Matthew Hedman will discuss multi-disciplinary efforts to figure out when things happened in the past. Many interesting events have happened since the universe was formed: stars were born and died, species arose and went extinct, civilizations rose and fell. However, to fully understand any of these events, we must first figure out how long ago they happened. Many different methods of dating past events now exist, and new ones are being developed all the time. This lecture series will focus on a somewhat random sample of these techniques, both the principles behind them and the complications that occur in practice. Considering techniques from a variety of fields, from archaeology to cosmology, we will explore the many time scales in the history of the universe, all the way back to the Big Bang.

No scientific background is required.  Just bring your curiosity and join us in exploring some lost worlds.

We hope you can join us for the first lecture on Saturday, March 27, 2004
at 11 AM in Room 106 of the Kersten Physics Building, 5720 South Ellis
Avenue.
 

Schedule of Talks
(may be subject to change)