18/05/2013

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Cosmic Origins

State:

Approved

Contact Details

I am the event manager:

I am the event manager

Event Manager Info

1. Event Manager Organisation:

Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University

2. Event Manager First Name:

Carlton

3. Event Manager Surname:

Baugh

4. Event Manager Address line 1:

Institute for Computational Cosmology, Department of Physics

5. Event Manager Address line 2:

Science Laboratories, Durham University

6. Event Manager Address line 3:

South Road, Durham

7. Event Manager Postcode:

DH1 3LE

8. Event Manager Telephone number:

0191 334 3542

9. Event Manager Email address:

c.m.baugh@durham.ac.uk

Your event

10. Which of the following areas of science does you event best fit into?:

Physics and Astronomy

Event type and format

11. Do you have a preferred day for your event to take place on?:

Saturday 7 September 2013

Sunday 8 September 2013

Monday 9 September 2013

Tuesday 10 September 2013

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Thursday 12 September 2013

17. Length:

~15 minutes in total

18. What will the format of your event be?:

Show/Performance/Demo lecture - entertainment events for adults and families

19. Please give any details about the format of your event you feel are relevant.:

The focus of the event is a short stereoscopic movie (~8 minutes duration). This could be run in a stand-alone mode on a loop, or in a longer presentation (~15-20 minutes), with a presenter giving a brief introduction to the movie and then answering questions from the audience afterwards. We are producing a new movie for the British Science Festival, building on our experience with the award winning “Cosmic Origins I”, which has been shown to many tens of thousands of people across the world.

20. Location/venue:

Venue and location to be allocated by the Festival team

21. Venue requirements:

The movie requires a room in which we have complete control over the lighting to create a "cinema" environment. We have a portable stereoscopic projector and screen, and can supply all of the equipment needed to put on the movie, including 3D glasses. We have previously put on shows in rooms ranging from a 20-seater audience (approximately 4mx3m) to a 110-seat lecture theatre. We will also supply the technical team to set up and run this system, as we have done for public exhibitions. The screen is front projected. We can also supply posters to amplify points raised in the movie.

22. Audience Level:

Everyone

Event details

12. Event title:

Cosmic Origins

13. Description of the core message of your event and key topics to be covered (c.100 words):

How was our galaxy, the Milky Way, made? What is our place in the Universe? What is the future going to hold for us? The award winning stereoscopic Cosmic Origins movie maps out our cosmic neighbourhood using real astronomical images, before illustrating the latest ideas about how the Milky Way was put together over thirteen billion years of cosmic history. Durham astronomers have helped to shape these ideas. Key topics include the role of gravity in shaping the growth of cosmic structures and the importance of dark matter as the cosmic scaffolding on which galaxies are built.

14. Does the event have particular local relevance?:

Yes

15. If so, please indicate what this is:

Thomas Wright, born in Byers Green, County Durham, was the first to postulate that the Milky Way was a galaxy in a universe of other galaxies, and also speculated about the shape of the Milky Way. His former observatory in Westerton is just a few miles away from the Durham University Science Site

16. How does your event relate to this year's theme of 'Making waves'?:

Galaxies grow out of waves in the density of the Universe. These waves originated in the quantum world in the very early universe. A very rapid period of expansion called inflation made the quantum density waves freeze in the everyday, “classical” world, so that, over billions of years, gravity could boost them in size until they became galaxies.

Press interest

23. Do you consider that the event will attract press interest?:

Yes

24. If yes, please summarise up to 4 key points you think will be of press interest:

The four key points our display will address are: 1)What is most of the mass in the Universe? 2) How did our galaxy form? 3) How will the Universe end? 4) What will be the fate of our galaxy? Research relating to the movie has been featured on the BBC News website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14948730) , which related to a talk given by Prof. Frenk at the 2011 British Science Festival in Bradford. ICC researcher regularly feature on TV (e.g. Richard Massey in the Horizon program “How Big is the Universe?”).

25. Do you have any other comments you would like to make or information you would like to include?:

A previous version of the movie has been shown to mixed audiences of school pupils and adults at public exhibitions (the London Royal Society Summer Science Festivals in 2002, 2005, 2009, 2010; Celebrate Science in Durham in 2010, 2011, 2012). Our staff, postdocs, students and undergraduates will help to demonstrate on the display, presenting a range of ages and backgrounds to engage with the public.