University of Richmond physics professor Ted Bunn receives research support from The Royal Society

April 13, 2018

University of Richmond physics professor Ted Bunn has received funding to support his cosmology research from The Royal Society, the oldest scientific institution in continuous existence.

Bunn’s areas of expertise are in cosmology and the study of the structure, origin and evolution of the universe on a large scale.

With support from The Royal Society Grant, Bunn will continue his research on analyzing and interpreting measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is a relic of a time when the universe was only half a million years old (20,000 times younger than today). Maps of this radiation allows scientists to test models that attempt to explain how galaxies formed, as well as theories about what the universe was like a fraction of a second after the Big Bang. 



“A great deal of mathematical and statistical analysis is required if we want to use the maps of the microwave background radiation to test theories of the early universe. As the maps get more and more sensitive, we require more and more sophisticated mathematical and computational tools. One goal of our current research is to measure the way these maps are distorted by matter in intergalactic space, and then use these distortions to make inferences about the distribution of this matter,” Bunn said.  

The grant from the Royal Society includes his travel to London where he will collaborate with Professor Andrew Jaffe at Imperial College.

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