Lindau Lecture: The State of the Universe

Brian P. Schmidt

The State of the Universe
Brian P. Schmidt 

To signify the close bond between the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and the Heidelberg Laureate Forum, each year a laureate is selected to give a guest lecture at the respective meeting. Abstract: Our Universe was created in 'The Big Bang' and has been expanding ever since. I will describe how we have come to understand the vital statistics of the Universe including its size,density, shape, age, and composition – by measuring the present and past Universe. Some mysteries have emerged, and there is much that we do not yet understand about the Cosmos, and I’ll speculate on what we might learn over the next few decades. 

The 13th Heidelberg Laureate Forum took place from September 13–18, 2026. #HLF26 

The Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF) is an annual networking conference where 200 carefully selected young researchers in mathematics and computer science spend a week interacting with the laureates of the most prestigious awards in their disciplines: the Abel Prize, ACM A.M. Turing Award, ACM Prize in Computing, Fields Medal, IMU Abacus Medal and Nevanlinna Prize. 

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