A Universe of Galaxies
Professor Roger Davies, Chair of Physics and Philip Wetton Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University, gave the third annual Blackett Science lecture.
Entitled 'A Universe of Galaxies', his talk provided a mind-stretching insight into the scale of the Universe. From some basic categorisation of galaxies, Professor Davies showed how, through collision, galaxies evolve over time. He looked at the large scale structure of the Universe and illustrated how, on a local scale, gravity wins over the expansion set in motion by the Big Bang.
Professor Davies is one of the leading astronomers in the UK and has published over ninety papers, mainly on galactic evolution.
He is one of the 'Seven Samurai' - seven astromomers who, in the late 1980s, discovered a huge gravitational anomaly in the Universe some 200 million light years away, to which all local galaxies are heading at up to 700 km per second; this anomaly has been called the Great Attractor.
Professor Davies is also an Honorary Friend of the Marlborough telescope and serves as the College's main link with Oxford University. This link has enabled pupils to attend lectures and complete work experience in the Astrophysics Department there. |