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Astronomer leads off University Lecture Series

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Alex Filippenko, an astronomer who researches exploding stars, active galaxies, black holes and the expansion of the universe, will lead off the 2001-2002 University Lecture Series on Oct. 2.

Also on the fall lineup are Russell Means, political activist and early leader of the American Indian Movement on Oct. 30; and David Carrasco, a Harvard Divinity School specialist in Mesoamerican religions on Nov. 13. Additional speakers for spring will be announced.

Filippenko, professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Satellite Student Union. His topic is "Einstein's Biggest Blunder? The Case for Cosmic 'Antigravity.'" The lecture is free but tickets must be picked up at the USU Information Center.

Filippenko says that recently observations of very distant exploding stars have provided evidence that the expansion of the universe is speeding up with time, rather than slowing down as expected. This discovery resurrects the idea of a long-range "antigravity" effect in the universe, first proposed by Albert Einstein and later renounced as his "biggest blunder." This discovery was voted the "Science Breakthrough of 1998" by Science magazine.

Filippenko received his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1984 and became a Miller Fellow for Basic Research in Science at UC Berkeley. In 1985, he and a professor discovered a supernova whose spectral properties were unprecedented.

Filippenko joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1986. He has won numerous awards for his teaching and research, including a 2001 Guggenheim Fellowship. He has appeared in several TV documentaries, such as "Mysteries of Deep Space," "Stephen Hawking's Universe," and "Runaway Universe."

Filippenko's appearance is hosted by the American Astronimocal Society Second Century Lecture Series.

Back to University Journal, 9/10/01 Issue