How to Create a Universe - Dr. J.P. van der Schaar

How did our universe come into existence? This fundamental and ancient question remains one of the greatest mysteries in science. Since Einstein revealed that gravity is best understood as the stretching and bending of space and time, cosmology has evolved into a rigorous scientific discipline—where theoretical models are tested against cosmological observations.

In less than a century, our understanding of the universe’s origins and properties has advanced in spectacular yet puzzling ways. The universe appears to be remarkably special. In an effort to explain these extraordinary features, a small group of theoretical cosmologists developed the paradigm of cosmological inflation in the 1980s.

But what exactly is cosmological inflation? And what do the latest observations reveal about this fascinating theory, in which all the structures in our universe trace their origins back to tiny primordial quantum fluctuations?

Dr. J.P. (Jan Pieter) van der Schaar is a theoretical physicist specializing in string theory and cosmology. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Groningen in 2000, followed by postdoctoral research at the University of Michigan, the CERN theory group, and Columbia University. During this time, he developed into a theorist with a particular interest in linking cosmological models to string theory and vice versa.

Since 2006, he has been a member of the string theory and cosmology group at the Institute of Physics at the University of Amsterdam. In 2013, he became the coordinator of the Delta Institute for Theoretical Physics, and as of 2022, he leads the Building Blocks of Matter and Foundations of Space-time route as part of the Nationale Wetenschapsagenda.

Doors open at 18:00 – Arrive early, grab a seat, and settle in.

Talk starts at 19:00 and runs until around 20:30.

Drinks and snacks can be ordered throughout the talk, so no need to choose between thinking and sipping.

Stick around afterward—good conversations don’t have closing times.