Across the millennia darkness occurring due to physical phenomena such as solar and lunar eclipses has been a source of fascination and awe, and as astronomical knowledge developed it was discovered that there was a dark side of the Moon never visible to the Earth. With a deepening understanding of the field of cosmology, black holes were first predicted and then experimentally discovered. More recently theories of both dark matter and dark energy have been postulated to explain effects observed in the Universe caused by the presence of such unseen matter and the Universe’s expansion. This conference will examine these different strands of the dark side of physics across the ages.

Registration to attend this conference is free, but must be confirmed using the Conference booking form by midday on Friday 16th November 2018.

Confirmed speakers currently include:

Professor Andrew Coates (University College London) – Darkness on Earth: Solar and Lunar Eclipses Through Time

Professor Manuel Grande (Aberystwyth University) – The Dark Side of the Moon and Is It Really Dead?

Professor Carole Mundell (University of Bath) – Big Bangs and Black Holes: From Thought Experiment to Technological Revolution

Dr Gianfranco Bertone (University of Amsterdam) – The Quest for Dark Matter

Professor Timothy Sumner (Imperial College London) – A Universe Dominated by Dark Energy?

There will be a conference dinner at St Cross in the evening following the end of the conference with an after-dinner talk by Asif Khan (architect of the Vantablack Pavilion at the 2018 Winter Olympics) on his design of the darkest building on Earth. Although the conference itself is free of charge, the dinner carries a cost of £35 to attend – booking a place for dinner (only for confirmed conference attendees and their guests) can be done here until the booking/cancellation deadline of midday on Friday 16th November 2018.