Fundamental cosmology from the ELT and space
4th Azores School on Observational Cosmology
6th Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences
06-12 September 2021, Angra do Heroísmo, Açores, Portugal

Public events

A series of three pre-school Zoom talks, in Portuguese, were organized for Azores seondary schools (but also open to other schools in mainland Portugal). The schedule was

30 April: Carlos Martins (CAUP): O Projecto ELT - Como se prepara uma revolução
21 May: Paulo Maurício (FCUP): Cosmologia: um universo fascinante
25 June: Rita Tojeiro (U. St Andrews): Mapas gigantes

The school itself included a cycle of 4 public talks, complemented by stargazing sessions, and an exhibition, whose detailed schedule is below.

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From the Big Bang to us in one hour
Paolo Padovani (ESO)

Monday, 6 September, 20:30 (Azores time)
Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional Luís da Silva Ribeiro, Angra do Heroísmo
Streamed live on www.facebook.com/bparlsr

How did we get from nothing to us? Which fundamental events in the evolution of the Universe led to our world? I will address all of the above by compressing more than 13 billion years in one hour.

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Hearing and Seeing the Universe
Daniel Holz (Chicago)

Wednesday, 8 September, 20:30 (Azores time)
Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional Luís da Silva Ribeiro, Angra do Heroísmo
Streamed live on www.facebook.com/bparlsr

We are now able to detect gravitational-waves, which are ripples in the fabric of spacetime. This gives us an entirely new way to learn about  the universe. We have heard collisions of neutron stars and black holes in distant galaxies, and from these have learned many things, including about how stars live and die, where gold comes from, and the age of the universe.

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No life without exploding stars
Bruno Leibundgut (ESO)

Friday, 10 September, 20:30 (Azores time)
Biblioteca Pública e Arquivo Regional Luís da Silva Ribeiro, Angra do Heroísmo
Streamed live on www.facebook.com/bparlsr

The universe can be found in ourselves. The elements in our body are a historical record of the evolution of the universe. The talk will present this record and how we believe the elements were formed in many places and at many different times.

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Einstein’s greatest mistake?
Alan Heavens (Imperial College)

Friday, 10 September, 20:30 (Azores time)
Teatro Ribeiragrandense, Aud.2, S. Miguel
Streamed live on www.oasa.pt/semanauniverso

Einstein's 1915 General Theory of Relativity stands out as an elegant and imaginative way of thinking about gravity. In 1917 Einstein changed the theory, adding an extra feature and making it less elegant, in order for it to be able to explain a static Universe. But the Universe is not static, and Einstein later said that it was his greatest stupidity to mess with the theory.  For 70 years this was the prevailing view, but now we think he was right after all, after observations of the accelerating Universe confounded expectations.