Presentation：Mapping the Universe and Its History
Time             ：2016/13/3 pm 3:00-5:00
Address       ：Keli Building
Reporter      ：Professor George Smoot, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract: Using our most advanced techniques and instruments we sift through light coming to us from all parts of the universe. We separate and study the cosmic microwave background as a relic of the very early universe to understand the events surrounding the birth and subsequent development of the Universe. A precision inspection and investigation of the CMB and other observations along with careful analysis, discussion, and computer modeling have allowed us determine what happened over billions of years with amazing certainty and accuracy. Some of the findings are surprising. A continuing mapping of the large scale structure allows us to check this in detail and gives us theconcepts for even more ways to map the history of the Universe. While things are so far consistent, there remain even more mysteries to be solved. In spite of that we can tell the tale of the creation and history of the Universe and show key supporting evidence some of it from very early times including using the cosmic background light to provide a direct image of the embryo universe. This talk will be a review of the current state of cosmological observations based on observations and the challenging issues still to be confronted.

Presentation ：News from the Cosmic Microwave Background
Time             ：2016/14/3 pm 3:00-5:00
Address        ：Room 552, Physics Building
Reporter       ： Professor George Smoot, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract: George Fitzgerald Smoot III (born February 20, 1945) is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, Nobel laureate, and one of two contestants to win the US$1 million prize on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer with John C. Mather that led to the "discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation". Smoot is the only Nobel laureate born in Florida. This work helped further the Big Bang theory of the universe using the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite. According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science." Smoot donated his share of the Nobel Prize money, less travel costs, to a charitable foundation.