Gravity and cosmology is topic of George C. Benson Memorial Lecture

Stacy McGaugh

Stacy McGaugh, director of the Warner and Swasey Observatory at Case Western Reserve University, will present "Gravity and Cosmology a Century after Einstein" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in 152 Shideler Hall. His talk is the George C. Benson Memorial Lecture in Physics.

McGaugh, chair of astronomy and professor of astronomy and physics at Case Western, is an astrophysicist and cosmologist who studies galaxies, dark matter, and theories of modified gravity.

He is an expert on low surface brightness galaxies, a class of objects in which the stars are spread thinly compared to bright galaxies like our own Milky Way. McGaugh demonstrated that these dim galaxies appear to be dark-matter dominated, providing unique tests of theories of galaxy formation and modified gravity.

He previously taught at the University of Maryland and also held research fellowships at Rutgers, the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the University of Cambridge. He earned his Ph.D from the University of Michigan.

The lecture honors George C. Benson, a native Ohioan, who earned his master’s in physics from Miami in 1962 and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Michigan in 1966, three months before he died in a plane crash.

Miami’s physics department is sponsoring the lecture, which is free and open to the public. There will also be a reception in the lobby of Shideler Hall immediately following the talk.