Astrophysicist Speaks with Upper School

Students in Parker’s Astrophysics Club and the Upper School Astronomy, Modern Physics and Philosophy course welcomed special guest Neta Bahcall to an intimate Zoom experience on Wednesday. Bahcall, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astrophysics and director of the Undergraduate Program in Astrophysics at Princeton University, took time from her busy schedule to meet and discuss her work with these students.

Junior Leena Mehta briefly introduced Bahcall to her peers and moderated a discussion on her work, which focuses on addressing questions such as: What is the large-scale structure of our universe? How did structure form and evolve? How much dark matter exists in the universe and where is it located? What is the nature of the mysterious dark energy? What is the fate of our universe? Will it expand forever or recollapse? Bahcall discussed how her team helped discover that the mass of the universe was too small to halt its expansion and the impact of this discovery on their work, the importance of her research into quasars and how learning about the universe has impacted her views on humanism.

Parker is grateful to Bahcall for speaking with students and giving them insight into the daily life of an expert in this field. 

Click here for photos.