Lights, Camera… Cosmos!

Basundhara Ghosh - Indian Institute of Science (IISc): The Universe is Expanding - What’s the Big Deal?

The mysteries of the Universe have fascinated humankind since time immemorial. With the birth of the branch of Physics called Cosmology, the scientific community has been able to address many of these mysteries in the past few decades, aided by Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Many questions, however, still remain unanswered. In this talk, I will address the accelerating expansion of the Universe, how we describe it using dark energy, and the recent observational developments that have made us question our basic understanding of dark energy. Are we close to answering one of the most baffling questions about our existence, or are we still groping in the dark? Let’s embark on a fascinating journey together, along with memes and pop culture references that will tell you that the Universe, too, has a good…