Welcome

Hello and welcome to 'A Cup of Cosmology'

Cosmology is the branch of physics that aims to study the origin, evolution and eventual fate of the universe and the large scale structures it contains. It is a fascinating and intriguing subject that endeavours to answer some of the biggest questions we can ask: 'how did the universe begin?', 'how will it end?', 'are we alone?'.

Mankind has always been driven by the need to know more and some of the oldest known civilizations already looked to the stars and the cosmos to answer their questions. As science and technology have advanced, cosmology has become more and more sophisticated: we now have equations to explain phenomena our ancestors could never even dream of, we have credible and testable theories about the origin of the universe, we have technology that allows us to probe the furthest and darkest realms of the universe looking for answers. And the more we find out, the more we realise we have yet to learn.

Somewhere along the way it seems cosmology stopped being accessible to all and became a secluded discipline, reserved for "those crazy physicists" who understand the equations. This is the case with many sciences; scientists communicate in their own jargon, scientific papers are expensive and difficult to access, and people are often scared away from the world of academia. But understanding the universe is something everyone wants to do, and everyone should be able to. All you need is a bit of patience, a lot of curiosity, and a willingness to learn.

I'm a theoretical physicist: one of "those crazy physicists" who tries to understand the universe. I spend my days battling with equations, writing codes and simulating the universe on my computer. And drinking lots of coffee. There really is a lot of coffee involved in science. Some of you might already know me from my weekly Periscope discussions about the universe. 

This blog is aimed at anyone who likes cosmology; whatever your level is I hope this blog will be useful and ideally enjoyable. I will try to explain cosmological concepts in a clear and concise way, without assuming any background knowledge.
If you are new to cosmology, I hope to provide you with an understandable introduction to one of the most intriguing fields of science. If you are well-versed in the subject, perhaps these posts will be an entertaining review.

I aim to cover a range of topics; cosmology allows us to probe the whole universe; everything from the origin of the universe to black holes, galaxies, structure formation, dark matter, the death of the universe, and everything in between. Even hypothetical concepts like time travel, wormholes, and parallel worlds can be discussed in the framework of cosmology.

I will try my best to keep this blog alive, but I can't promise daily updates, or updates every 'x' days. I commit to publishing new posts often, but I am purposefully leaving the definition of 'often' up to interpretation.

Science is awesome; it's rewarding, exciting, tiring, complex, and fun. But most of all science is understandable. Let's understand it together.