Nobel laureate to talk dark matter

Adam Riess, a Nobel Prize laureate and astrophysicist, will give a lecture Tuesday as part of the annual Joseph and Sophia Konopinski lecture series.

The lecture will cover dark energy. His studies of dark energy won him the Nobel Prize.

“He will mostly be talking about the expansion of the universe,” said Gerardo Ortiz, IU physics professor and head of the Konopinski lecture committee. “There is a moment when expansion should stop because of gravity, but it’s not because of the expansion of the universe. The explanation is dark energy — it contradicts gravity.”

There were two teams that worked toward the discovery of dark energy, said Ortiz, and Riess was one of the leaders. They concluded that the universe is not only expanding, but accelerating as well.  

The discovery the two teams made was based off an idea that Einstein had long ago. Up until now, it was only a theory.

“People receive the Nobel Prize for finding facts, not for speculation,” Ortiz said.  
The expansion was measured and discovered through the study of super novae, said Ortiz. Some were closer to the earth than others, but the super novae that provided the most information were those that were farther away.

“The farther away they are, the longer the light takes to reach earth, so the light is older when it reaches us,” Ortiz said.

Riess was chosen to speak by the Konopinski lecture committee based on his outstanding accomplishments.  

“The committee chooses topics of interest to not only the university, but the public as well,” Ortiz said. “The speaker also has to be a good public speaker.”

The committee wants to involve more people in the excitement that surrounds these kinds of discoveries.

“We want to captivate the people who may become the new Adam Riess,” he said. “And we also want to educate the general public as well.”

The Konopinski lecture was first endowed in 1990 and has brought many laureates and famous speakers to campus, Ortiz said.

“It’s a part of a project that the physics school is known for,” he said.  
The lecture will be at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Indiana Memorial Union’s

Whittenberger Auditorium, followed by an open reception in the IMU University Club. The Konopinski committee hopes the talk will draw in not only students this year, but also members from the community who wonder about outer space.

“People are concerned about where we’re at in the universe and where we’re going,” said Ortiz. “It’s ingrained in society’s mind, so people should be interested.”