How Old Is It? (The Age of the Universe)

[BinocularSky]

Just added a new talk to my list.

The blurb:

Aristotle thought it was eternal; James Ussher dated its creation to 6pm on 22 Oct 4004 BCE; Newton eventually decided that it was infinite, static, and eternal; by 1958 it seemed to be younger than the oldest stars; by 2013, this had all been resolved and we now accept the Universe to be approximately 13.8 billion years old. This talk traces the ideas, evidence and reasoning for the answers to this most fundamental of questions.

[ollypenrice]

Looks great! (Bet it sounds great, too!  )

Do you look at the philosophical question of what time seems to be/might be/might not be?

Olly

[RT65CB-SWL]

Just added a new talk to my list.

The blurb:

Aristotle thought it was eternal; James Ussher dated its creation to 6pm on 22 Oct 4004 BCE; Newton eventually decided that it was infinite, static, and eternal; by 1958 it seemed to be younger than the oldest stars; by 2013, this had all been resolved and we now accept the Universe to be approximately 13.8 billion years old. This talk traces the ideas, evidence and reasoning for the answers to this most fundamental of questions.

So, what was there on 22 Oct 4004 BCE @ 5:59.59.00.pm? - apologies all!

[Qualia]

Do you look at the philosophical question of what time seems to be/might be/might not be?

The filosofical questions of time If you don't ask me, I know what it is. If you ask, I don't

[BinocularSky]

Do you look at the philosophical question of what time seems to be/might be/might not be?Olly

Might do if questions are asked.

I do sometimes cover that (depending on audience) in my "Time and Calendars" talk.

So, what was there on 22 Oct 4004 BCE @ 5:59.59.00.pm? - apologies all!

Sorry, can't answer that: I believe that religion is still a banned topic on these boards.

Also working on another talk at the moment:

Astrocrud: Complementary and Alternative Astronomy

Main problem at the moment is what to leave out: I have sufficient material for about 3 hours. Might have to turn it into a book. Also need to be a bit careful: some of the subjects are still alive and one at least is very litigious.