Lectures on Tap - "How Will the Universe End?"

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "How Will the Universe End?"

🎤 Speaker: Pip Petersen

Cosmology is the study of how the universe formed, evolved, and what its ultimate fate may be. Because the cosmos unfolds over distances and timescales far beyond human experience, cosmologists can’t simply wait and watch to see how it all ends. Instead, they piece together clues from observations of galaxies, the oldest light in the universe, and powerful theoretical models to reconstruct cosmic history and predict its future.

In this talk, Pip Petersen will guide us through key questions—How old is the universe? How did it form? What is it made of?—before tackling the biggest and scariest mystery of all: how will the universe end, and how could we possibly know that? Will the cosmos collapse back in on itself, rip apart, slowly fade into darkness as all the stars die, or something even stranger?

Pip is a PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow in theoretical astrophysics at the University of Washington. He studies the history, structure, and evolution of the universe and is deeply involved in science outreach, from public planetarium shows to teaching science in juvenile detention facilities throughout the Seattle area.

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.