COD Grad to Present 'The Mystery of Dark Energy' on Nov. 16

College of DuPage graduate Joseph Bernstein, Ph.D., of Argonne National Laboratory will present the colloquium “The Mystery of Dark Energy: A Key to Understanding the Universe” at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at College of DuPage.

The free lecture will take place in the Health and Science Center, Room 1234.

In the late 1990s, scientists discovered that the universe is expanding with time at an ever-increasing rate. The physical nature of what is responsible for this cosmic acceleration is a mystery, which is behind the concept of dark energy, an umbrella term that refers to what's driving the acceleration.

Bernstein will discuss the current progress and challenges facing scientists who are trying to determine what dark energy is. Bernstein is an internationally renowned expert who participates in the Dark Energy Survey Collaboration, which includes institutions from the U.S., Chile, Spain, the United Kingdom and Brazil. His group at Argonne is leading the effort to determine what strategy DES uses to search for supernovae in the night sky.

The colloquium is sponsored by the Health and Sciences Division. For more information, call (630) 942-8331.