Cosmic Dawn: Three Mysteries from the Universe’s First Billion Years

Name: Cosmic Dawn: Three Mysteries from the Universe’s First Billion Years
Start: 2026-02-01T11:00:00+05:30
Location: Prithvi Theatre

Schedule

Sun, 01 Feb, 2026 at 11:00 am

UTC+05:30

Location

Prithvi Theatre | Mumbai, MH

Cosmology asks: how did the Universe become the place we inhabit? It is archaeology with light: every photon began its journey long ago, carrying a message from the past. In a century, theory and observation have turned those whispers into a precise story: we can date the Universe to about 13.8 billion years. Yet the first billion years remain the hardest chapter to read. We will explore that era, when the first stars and galaxies ignited, the intergalactic medium was ionised, and massive black holes appeared unexpectedly early. We will tour the tools: deep infrared surveys using JWST, simulations that grow cosmic structure, and radio experiments chasing the faint 21-cm signal of primordial hydrogen, then gather the clues into three lingering mysteries.
About the Speaker:
Girish Kulkarni is a theoretical astrophysicist and Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Mumbai. His research focuses on the Universe’s first billion years, a period during which the first galaxies formed, the intergalactic medium was reionised, and the earliest supermassive black holes began to grow. He combines physics, astronomy, and high performance computing, working
with data and ideas connected to facilities such as JWST, the VLT, and large international efforts including the Square Kilometre Array and Rubin Observatory’s LSST. Girish did his PhD at the Harish Chandra Research Institute and has held positions in Cambridge and Heidelberg.