February 23, 2016: Our speaker this week was Frank Avignone, Carolina Endowed Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of South Carolina. A Graduate of Georgia Tech, Dr Avignone was the 1st department head of physics at USC.
Dr. Avignone stated his talk would explain what Scientists believe, not to tell the audience what they should believe. Scientists believe the universe was born 14 billion years ago, and the earth 8 billion years later. Created from an initial explosion, there is evidence that the universe is expanding and is continuing to expand.
Dr. Avignone described how scientists measure distance of galaxies and stated the Hubble telescope has allowed them to see much farther into the universe than ever before. There are billions of stars in each galaxy and they believe there are millions of galaxies. Hubble telescope sees greater than any previous telescope and has provided many exciting opportunities for scientists and researchers.
Some milestone dates in physics and astronomy include:
- 1920: Einstein thought universe was static…..developed “theory of static universe”
- 1927: Catholic Priest Father Lemaitre, proposed universe expanding.
- 1929: Edwin Hubble: discovered universe expanding
- 1950s: Cosmological Debate: steady state universe vs big bang theory….pope Pius also weighed in on argument
- Big Bang Theory: elementary particles are indivisible.
5.5 billon years ago our solar system formed. Dr. Avignone described how scientists determine age of the universe.
— Steve Coe, Keyway Committee