Air Date: June 17, 2009

Josh Schroeder

The Big Bang!

The universe used to be a very different place, billions of years ago. The temperature and density was so high that galaxies, stars, planets, and even atoms could not exist. Luckily, for us, the universe expanded and cooled off. Astronomers and physicists have been able to describe and model the processes by which the universe transitioned from that hot, dense, alien environment to the conditions we observe today. The space, time, matter, and energy we take for granted in our everyday lives all owe their characteristics to events that took place a finite time in the past we call the "Big Bang".

Joshua Schroeder is a graduate student at Columbia University where he studies astronomy. His research interests include cosmology, the epoch of reionization, binary stars, and spectroscopy. Schroeder has a M.S. degree in astrophysical and planetary sciences from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Bachelor's degree in astrophysical sciences from Princeton University.