Large-Scale Structure in the Universe: The Hierarchy of Nature

Guest Speaker

Thursday, 26th November 2020 (19:45 - 22:00)

Venue: Virtual Meeting

A relaxing introduction to the comprehension of scale in the Universe from a historical perspective. From the great debate of the 1920s to modern all-sky surveys that reveal the filaments and clumps of galaxies that form clusters and superclusters, we will briefly highlight this seemingly confusing landscape and how we as observers and modellers have attempted to understand it.

Speaker: Lawrence Bilton

I started my interest in Astronomy at a young age by admiring how pretty the night sky is (assuming no clouds and low light pollution), luckily obtaining my first proper telescope at 14 with a Meade LX-90 Maksutov-Cassegrain, I observed heavily on cold nights the ethereal M31, the majestic M42 and the sisters of M45 as well as many other objects.

After starting the wrong degree course at the wrong University I ended up studying Physics & Astronomy courses properly with the Open University, graduating my BSc in 2014 I then moved to their home campus in Milton Keynes for a Research Masters focussing on the study of Active Galactic Nuclei, one of the more power objects in the Universe, graduating in 2016.
Finally, this landed me with a PhD position within the E.A. Milne Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Hull, where my recent works have involved probing the dynamical effects large-scale structures, such as galaxy clusters, have on the very cluster galaxies that form their structure.

I am currently in the process of submitting my PhD thesis for examination, after which I hope to continue my work.