News South Africa

Origins Centre hosts talk on SKA project

With the decision for the hosting site for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope imminent, Origins Centre at Wits University in Johannesburg will be hosting a talk on the subject on 24 April 2012.

Titled 'The Square Kilometre Array: Searching for the Origins of the Universe', the lecture is presented by Dr. Adrian Tiplady, currently the SKA site bid manager, driving South Africa's bid to host the telescope. He joined the South African SKA Project in 2005.

Facing fundamental questions

The SKA project is mankind's quest to build the largest, and most sensitive, radio telescope in history. This next-generation scientific facility will probe the very beginnings of the universe to answer the most fundamental questions facing science today: What is Dark Matter? What is Dark Energy? What are the laws of nature, and how did they guide the evolution of the first stars and galaxies? Are we alone?

South Africa, along with eight other African countries, is leading the race to host this giant facility as well as in the development of scientific understanding and technological innovation. This talk will look at all aspects of this international project - from what we will discover in the future, to what we have already put on the ground in preparation of hosting the SKA.

In 2011, Dr. Tiplady was named as one of Mail & Guardian's '200 Young South Africans to have Lunch With'. Bookings are essential and can be made at az.gro.snigiro@ksa.

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