Learning about the sub-atomic world from observations to the edge of the Universe (Free Astronomy Public Lectures)

Presented by Assoc. Prof. Chris Blake on 18th April 2012.Scientists have been trying to understand the building blocks of matter for millenia. What are the fundamental particles and forces that shape the sub-atomic world? Even today, we are faced with a series of puzzles and challenges that could overturn our view of reality. What particle makes up the dark matter? What are neutrinos, and do they really trave l faster than the speed of light? What caused the slight imbalance between matter and anti-matter, leading to a Universe in the first place? Powerful particle accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider, are striving to answer these questions. However, by peering into the distant Universe we can find the ultimate particle accelerator of them all: the Big Bang. In this talk we will explore how observations to the edge of the Universe can test our theories about the smallest particles that exist, and may change our views about the fundamental nature of reality.