The Dark Universe

Prof David Bacon is Director of the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth. He is a cosmologist who operates at the interface between observations and theories, particularly interested in dark energy, gravitational lensing, the clustering of galaxies, and tests of the theory of gravity.

Prof Bacon  carried out his doctoral research at the University of Cambridge, then moved to the University of Edinburgh as a Research Fellow. He continued his career as a Research Fellow at the University of Portsmouth, where he has gradually moved up to being Director.

The Universe is a most peculiar place, apparently full of several 'materials' which we cannot directly see: dark matter and dark energy. In his talk, Prof Bacon  will describe the current cosmological observations that have led to this conclusion, and discuss the increasingly baffling behaviour of this dark sector of the Universe.