The Theory of General Relativity: The Largescale Structure of the Universe

The development of Special Relativity in 1905 and General Relativity in 1915 by Albert Einstein supposed, not only a change in the philosophical paradigms of the time, but also a new way of understanding physics. Against Newtonian gravity, the theory of General Relativity put on the table a revolutionary point of view, where gravity was no longer a force but a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime. In this talk, Pedro will introduce the main ideas behind this theory and will explore some of the known manifestations in nature. To conclude, he will examine some of the open questions in this field of Physics and discuss some of the questions that the audience might have.

Pedro Villalba González is a Spanish MSc student in the department of Physics and Astronomy at UBC. He is working in Observational Cosmology, concretely in the Canadian Galactic Emission Mapper (CGEM) project, a radiotelescope which will help us search for gravitational radiation from the early Universe. In his free time he enjoys talking about Physics and about Spain, especially about Spanish music!