The invisible universe, from supernova to black holes - with Matthew Bothwell

How different does the invisible Universe look from the home we thought we knew? What does the cosmos have in store for us beyond the phenomena we can see, from black holes to supernovas?
Watch the Q&A: • Q&A: The invisible uni...
Matthew's book 'The Invisible Universe' is available now: geni.us/bothwell
Since the dawn of our species, people all over the world have gazed in awe at the night sky. But we can only see a tiny fraction of the Universe.
Join Matthew Bothwell as he asks what the cosmos has in store for us beyond the phenomena we can see, from black holes to supernovas? And how different does the invisible Universe look from the home we thought we knew?
Matthew Bothwell is an astronomer and science communicator based at the Institute of Astronomy and the Kavli Institute for Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.Matthew recieved his PhD from the University of Cambridge, working with Prof. Rob Kennicutt and Dr. Scott Chapman. Before taking up science communication, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, and the Astrophysics group at the University of Cambridge.
This talk was recorded on 15 November 2021
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[@robertmeyer7836]

I'm undereducated and certainly have never studied Astronomy, so this lecture by Mr. Bothwell is mind-boggling. At 84, my curiosity has been awakened! Thank you so very much to The Royal Institution and Matthew Bothwell. KUDOS!!

[@rwshaw.palaeo.bio.med.1234]

I'm 58, and just began mastering the advanced math that is the language these wonders are written in. It's NEVER too late. It'll keep me busy until my last breath. Youth is wasted on the young 😊

[@arekkrolak6320]

thanks to Internet we have best educators at a reach of a hand, something our predecessors could only dream about

[@MendTheWorld]

It is our common lot to be undereducated. I mean all 8 billion of us. None of us knows all that we can potentially know. Intelligence is to know what you don't know, and then set about to fill those gaps as best you can. Most people stop trying at a much earlier age.

[@extremeuzer3]

Legend!

[@dimitridoes7936]

No need to say you are undereducated ... you are interested and absorbing knowledge! Happy NY ❤

[@get2113]

Outstanding, one of the best lectures I have ever seen. Entire presentation is organized around spectacular images. A+

[@richardavery2894]

Yes agreed. I've watched so many of these, the images and talking were perfectly woven together. Hopefully we see this kid for many years to come 🙂👍

[@get2113]

I bought his book. A lot of the lecture is from the book, but there is interesting further detail in the book. Worth the $20

[@jgunther3398]

there are significant errors in there

[@fijiwizard]

@@jgunther3398 like what

[@adrianworley7060]

I'm surprised people rate this talk highly. He seems nervous and flustered throughout, he drops his slide tool, his demo didn't work...

[@gardenladyjimenez1257]

One of the BEST lectures I have seen anywhere. He covers an enormous breadth of information, but with clear explanations, connections, descriptions and photos. He never "dumbs it down." One can be a very clever scientist but be unable to explain to regular people how you know what you know. Dr. Bothwell is an example of the distinct and AMAZING talent a scientist needs to communicate his knowledge. Amazon reviews of "The Invisibile Universe" say it so much better - TERRIFIC. I look forward to his book.

[@christophercharles9645]

Thank you, Matthew Bothwell & Royal Institution, for a fantastic lecture! As someone who has long been interested in astronomy and felt that I'd exhausted what KZbin could show me, these lectures - and this one in particular - is a wonderful surprise. Presented for the layman to understand but with as much information as one can absorb - you can really come away feeling you've learned something. Great presentation too.

[@kenchesnut4425]

I agree ..seems like it's harder and harder to find really good science lectures

[@alyoelcompres8804]

@@kenchesnut4425 yyyyy. Y g

[@gustavomoretto6449]

Wow! Great lecture. How clear and cohesive his discourse is... He moves really fast through the topics he presents yet it remains amazingly clear throughout. Great job!

[@gteichrow]

Fabulous

[@ishanr8697]

Great talk, the presenter did very well. I wish someone had have helped when he couldn't get the thermal camera linked to his laptop properly- he was a bit on his own. Good to see "live" lectures again, although sorry to see it wasn't a full house. I would have happily paid to attend, given the chance.

[@mariannezammit3738]

I would think Covid had a lot to do with the small audience. Pity. And agree, it was great talk, and I was thinking how even this soon after this lecture was recorded, we are already seeing images from the JWST. How extraordinarily lucky are we to be here at this time to witness it all.

[@chrissmith7259]

@Matthew your delivery sounds great, looks great and is an X-ray on things we can't see and radiates on things we feel. A great lecture I wish I was there. Thank you @Ri

[@davecarsley8773]

The piano analogy was brilliant. It's one of those visual things a great teacher can show you that -- even though you've known the underlying _fact_ your whole life -- makes you finally, in an instant, actually "get it".

[@davidrobinson7112]

I cannot express my level of adminiration for this lecture. In over 60 I have seen as high quality ĺecture. It has literally created a new area of fascination for me. I humbly thank all who made the presentation available

[@mikelouis9389]

As always, watching one of your videos does not leave me regretting the time I spent watching it. Thank you.

[@exoyt7575]

Such a great speaker, no umhs or ahs every sentence, and just a very smooth and well stuctered presentation. his love and respect for the RI really shines through and shows.

[@bruceh92]

There isn't supposed to be ums and has in this presentation.

[@hermanmiller6986]

Another epic of RI; a very knowledgeable and, at the same time, humble scientist presents extremely well a novel topic to a wide range of audience in a smooth and coherent narration , starting with a nice and informative introduction of the basis and history of topic, wrapping up with its application in cutting edge technologies.

[@robertspies4695]

A stellar lecture and presentation. I've rarely seen a science lecture that was this well done and clear.

[@albertaoridge]

Before watching this video i wouldn’t have thought this was a topic for me, but because the way this man speaks and how he explains things so well, I love it! I want to watch everything from him now. Great and entertaining speaker

[@kwisclubta7175]

I like this guy. Sometimes I am fascinated by the subject matter, but don't like the speaker. In this case, I am a fan of both..

[@243david7]

His presentation style was very good

[@JarodM]

Agreed~

[@savage22bolt32]

Matthew Bothwell didn't draw the largest RI audience (maybe due to covid-19), but IMO this is the most interesting and fascinating lecture I've seen on the RI channel.

[@isubtothebest6020]

10@-4

[@fijiwizard]

@@savage22bolt32 I noticed the crowd too, i thought that is kinda a bummer even though I didn’t know of him until now he is obviously very underrated Great presentation indeed Certainly due for a bigger crowd for the next one

[@savage22bolt32]

@@fijiwizard i just did a KZbin search of his name, and found a couple more vids if him on this topic. Will give them a listen.

[@Dr10Jeeps]

Another excellent lecture at the RI. It is so enjoyable to listen to these enlightening talks!

[@basilbenny7709]

Every lectures of The Royal Institution is just straight away epic Never disappoints us

[@davidnewland2461]

There's a whole galaxy of types of galaxies.

[@johnchen7349]

Amazing journey for me to understand so much about the universe with an easy, smooth,,efficient, and fun way to learn massive information in short period. Such a legend!

[@BrechdanHam]

This was bloody brilliant. I loved it!

[@abcde_fz]

. TOTALLY fascinating, and one of those talks that answered a question I almost didn't know I had, that was waiting in the wings. I've always kinda' wondered why FLIR infrared camera images were so fuzzy, even whey they weren't looking through brick walls, or the foliage of woods, when they may be looking for someone missing, or lost, or hiding. Dr. Bothwell starts from the lowest level and the earliest history of the technology behind infrared imaging, and it turns out that, A) The _most advanced_ infrared sensors are less than two decades old, and B) Before about two decades ago, there really hadn't been any significant improvement in the tech for nearly one hundred years. It's a slow burn video, but 'cool' for one that talks about cameras that use 'heat' for their imaging.

[@jaapongeveer6203]

Thank you for this most timely lecture with JWT a couple of months away from starting its science.

[@artdonovandesign]

You're piano/octave analogy is brilliant! Very enlightening. Thank you.

[@djbrut33]

Would have aced it if he'd given the number of piano keys in octave, compared to total keys in grand piano and how many on nine of them

[@johnmcclain3887]

This has been a very interesting look at the universe, thanks for the clear explanations!

[@abdulkaderalsalhi557]

A very good presentation, enjoyable and informative. well done, thanks to RI and Dr. Matthew Bothwell.

[@AnthonyMuscio]

Very good speaker (Matthew Bothwell) with immaculately prepared content that is so easily presented it is a pleasure to watch.

[@jameswilkinson8851]

Packed with interesting and insightful information presented very professionally. Great knowledge, thanks for sharing.

[@whirledpeas3477]

Nice to see that Matthew and R.I are Bothwell

[@michaelelbert5798]

This is what I understand about light. A photon is an excitation of a field. This excitation travels through the entire universe as a wave or bubble.

[@lawandorder2024]

INTERESTING presentation, very clear communicator - bought his book

[@jayceasar2661]

this guy explains things so well that makes it easy to understand..i really enjoyed it..A+

[@dawggonevidz9140]

Look at the wide shots of the lecture theatre. Look at how many seats there are. the RI have been giving lectures and demonstrations in a multitude of scientific disciplines every week (almost, breaks for wars notwithstanding,) for 220 years. Until recently, you had to be there, in one of those seats, to be a part of this tradition of dissemination of expert knowledge of the sciences to the enthusiastic masses. How fortunate we are to live in an age where we can enjoy this anywhere in the connected world, at home, in a cafe, on a train, or laying in a meadow, looking up at the night sky and just listening. This is a golden age, and we are blessed.

[@ZeroOskul]

Thank you, Royal Institute!

[@timsmith6675]

@The Royal Institution, great lecture by a great teacher to us science enthusiasts! 😊 I liked Matthew's talk so much, I bought his hardcover book on Amazon for only $20 U.S.

[@fijiwizard]

I noticed that there isn’t quite a full house & i thought that is kinda a bummer even though I didn’t know of him until now he is obviously very underrated. Great presentation indeed Certainly due for a bigger crowd for the next one !!

[@lGipsyDanger]

this was so interesting. also I'm really glad the lecturer got to live out his childhood dream

[@muzikhed]

Brilliant. Such a lot of wonderful interesting science from the fasinating intro on light to early galaxies...looking forward to what the James Webb can tell us.

[@ickymouth]

"this photo is in visible (not invisible)" light. State of the art I'm surelol.

[@jamesbarlow6423]

Dark matter is an unobserved, implied hypothetical meant to 'save the appearance' of certain cosmological theories.

[@deanpappas8388]

What a remarkable presenter! So natural, unpretentious, and not an entertainer (by intention) but fabulously entertaining. I could listen to many more lecturers of his without a break. So delightful and unassuming. NEVERTHELESS, he does not address the main question that totally baffles me: If the reason we see things is because of photons that bounce off of everything (think of a panorama of the Grand Canyons, whatever) and all those photons somehow fit through our tiny iris. I'd love it if someone could explain that phenomenon for me. Thank you.

[@luckyb4541]

They somehow fit. Photons are tiny your eyeball is huge by comparison

[@manjitkumar6510]

Thanks for these wonderful lectures by wonderful and eminent personalities. Thanks to this channel for making these wonderful lectures available to common people across the globe. It is strange to see the almost empty hall. People do not have time to listen about universe. It is surprising that only very few people are are torch bearers of science and knowledge while rest of others are busy reaping profits from scientific knowledge. Thanks for this wonderful channel.

[@albertaoridge]

This guy is sooo good! amazing presentation

[@Timesend]

I can’t get enough of this , space universe is the best thing ever

[@grayaj23]

Very well done and interesting to watch and listen.

[@padraiggluck2980]

There’s a heartbreaking episode in Hershel’s pursuit of astronomy. He spent two years grinding and polishing a new lens and when it was finished he picked it up and it slipped out of his hands. He had to begin the grinding process all over again but eventually produced his new lens.

[@agquaproductions9361]

I enjoyed this presentation.

[@sideshowbobrobert]

GREAT presentation. will definitely get the book !

[@hg6996]

This is a heck of a good lecture. Thanks a lot for it. 👍👍👍

[@bazyt1]

Great speaker, very engaging and clear.

[@sandyago4735]

Wonderful lecture! I'm surprised how few people are in attendance.

[@ulysissira9808]

Very helpful and very good wonderful sound mixed with great quality of how to used the ingredients of subject matter which is necessary for the next Generation to be used for any kind of presentation object to give people inspired, and more new discover about the future of new Generation galaxies tools..this is its best for me and understand. be loved, and enjoyed to connect the world and universe with the light of art and what reality about the Invisible Universe..

[@stephanieparker1250]

I loved this! Great info! 🙌

[@toni4729]

Brilliant talk. Thank you so much.

[@cyclingnerddelux698]

Fascinating. Lovely lecture!

[@clawsonsful]

Amazing lecture!

[@johnlewis5330]

Great talk.

[@leonloya1180]

very informative and confirming presentation. However, I would recommend that the individual slides be consistent when showing the light spectrum and the redshift such that they all are left to right and not a mixed bag. Thanks for a very salient presentation.

[@You_Can_Do_If]

Nice ending. Good speaker. Thank you

[@pbberger2002]

This is super interesting and mind-blowing. My little brain is just going W.T.F.! The time scales and the distances are incomprehensible.

[@sumina8653]

Ditto to the last comment. In awe of the 30 year production & launch of the James Webb telescope. Thank you for explaining why it is so important using infra red long wave light in addition, to make the invisible early universe visible. The history of science of light equally fascinating that led to this possibility. As the images are being released from the JWST would you please do follow up lectures? showing & explaining the optical & infra red comparisons, as in this lecture please? I look forward to learning more. Thank you so much.

[@junes2k]

I am very, very stupid. And the lectures on this channel by absolute geniuses are so easy to follow. I appreciate that.

[@johneonas6628]

Thank you for the video.

[@eltaffyrip3800]

Bloody brilliant!

[@jimhostetter9324]

Very interesting, great job Mr. Bothwell.

[@vladimirp2674]

Stunning!

[@ronankelly376]

this was brilliant

[@helenaleahy9396]

Love this lecture and reminds us how much more we need learn and discover and how small olmost insignificant we are ? Really ?

[@moazdarwish9360]

A masterpiece presentation!

[@corinnefeldmann5259]

Excellent talk, thankyou.

[@andypaul4242]

Really excellent lecture. The RI is brill

[@PhysKid]

Really great!

[@orlandogardner5288]

Thanks, really interesting.

[@davidhughes2960]

Nice work man

[@leefrankel4191]

This is an excellent lecture and so interesting. I’ve wondered about some of these phenomena. Question: is Andromeda moving towards us or are we moving towards it?

[@JarodM]

Both~👍

[@luckyb4541]

Just wait and see

[@albertaoridge]

but i thought all galaxies are moving away from each other due to the expansion of the universe….. that’s the part that confuses me because i know they say andromeda is heading toward us, but yet they always say all galaxies are getting farther apart. which is it?

[@raybo780]

False dichotomy

[@joshzammit6023]

Truly awesome video

[@seditt5146]

46:00 Does anyone know if they attempted the simulation with the flow coming in one direction and the flow out going 90 degrees to that because when we watch similar formations being created using vibrating plates and fine dust this is what we observe however sadly limited to 2 dimensions for the most part. Matter flows in via veins and out at roughly a right angle to the infalling materials. Not sure what exactly they would need to adjust to even get such behavior but its something I personally should look deeper into.

[@Jim007baker]

great presentation thank you

[@ActualDav]

Excellent 👍🏼

[@paulberk2264]

Does JWT have a detector for sub-millimeter IR? I found references to NIRCAM and H2RG but those seem to operate at shorter wavelengths.

[@joshzammit6023]

Awesome video

[@ekalavyarathore156]

Thanks a lot sir and thanks a lot RI

[@lshtar777]

I find it fascinating, how much of this information, is careful speculation.

[@wazzup105]

With the JWST operational we really need an update video :-)

[@arekkrolak6320]

Everybody starts with saying how special it is to speak, it is good icebreaker, but this audience must have heard it 100 times already :)

[@nitro13333]

15:28. Despite assurances from some experts the collision between the two galaxies will probably not result in individual star collisions due to the immense distances, will there be significant additional gravitational forces that rip a habitable planet from its position about its star?

[@sighpocket5]

Nice!!!!!!

[@spindoctor6385]

I remember hearing somewhere that Hershell finding IR light was an accident, that he had one thermometer out of the spectrum as a control and it happened to be in the IR zone. Does anyone know if this is true?

[@thydr2586]

I have heard the same thing. Must be true 😁🌈

[@noneofyourbizness]

hopefully lecturers know their audience is exponentially greater in number than those who made it to the RI's live event .

[@0.618-0]

cool presentation even non science people can appreciate. Truly Inspirational for young minds.

[@christianfloreck8347]

Great! Realy Great! I'm a layman and my english issn't the best. But I got the Information - and I'm shure to order the book Thanks a lot and greatings from Berlin.

[@nHans]

Great lecture. My only complaint is in treating *wavelength* rather than *frequency* as the primary characteristic of light. The wavelength of light changes as light travels through different media. The frequency doesn't. In fact, the wavelengths of visible light already change a little when they enter our atmosphere from space. They change even more in our eyeballs in the _vitreous humor,_ just before they hit the retina. For example, the wavelength of *red* light-750 nm in vacuum-changes to about 560 nm in the eyeball. In vacuum, 560 nm corresponds to *green* light! But, in our eyes, we see 560 nm light as red, not green. Similarly, just-visible violet light-400 nm in vacuum-becomes 300 nm in the eyeball. 300 nm in vacuum corresponds to invisible ultra-violet! But we see it alright-that too, without damaging the eye. Note that the frequency of light does not change in any of the above examples. And that's why I recommend using frequency rather than wavelength in such situations.

[@robertkoen5506]

Frequency and wavelength are related directly. They cannot change independent of the other

[@nHans]

​@@robertkoen5506 Like I said in the very first para of my original post, you're wrong. If you read the rest of it-clearly you haven't-you'll understand why.

[@kenchesnut4425]

I'm in Charleston S.C..I will be taking a trip to London soon ..I would love to come to a lecture at the Royal Society..The amount of brain power that has walked through those doors...remarkable

[@Hugo_Overthere]

Distant masses are not older than near masses. They were all created about the same time. The objects we see look older because we are seeing them as they were, and not as they are. Redshift refers to the Doppler effect in objects closing on an observer at relativistic velocity. Expanding space as well as time dilation might add some clarity to the reason why distances measured by brightness appear farther than distances measured by redshift. As far as we know the universe has stopped expanding, and is now contracting. We can only see objects back in time when they were receding.

[@DNTMEE]

From what I understand, technically speaking, the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies are already colliding. The "halos" of thinly scattered stars, globular clusters of stars, and tenuous gas/dust which surround both galaxies extend a bit more than half way to each other. So this matter is already colliding. Though "colliding" may be somewhat of an exaggeration since it's much more likely all that stuff is simply mingling rather than smashing into each other, given how sparse it all is. Even when the main event occurs, billions of years hence, the chances of collisions between individual stars is remote. The gravitational forces of each star will have much more effect than actual collisions. Not to mention the effects of the anticipated merging of our respective black holes. Our solar system may even be left relatively unscathed. Not that it will matter much to us since our sun will have destroyed earth long before then. The sun giveth, and the sun taketh away. Even Sunblock 10,000 won't help.

[@asdfasdfasdfasdfzzzz]

this hits

[@_sbu27]

Thanks

[@TheRoyalInstitution]

Thank you for our first South African rand!

[@MK-hv7zg]

Where is the screen expanding option?

[@brittanylee4591]

This was cool, something I've never really heard much about before with these sub millimeter galaxies

[@elisejaudon925]

@45:53. Someone sat down and created a universe? And tinkerd with it. Yeup.

[@adastra5346]

Fantastic lecture. Excellent job with your work. I absolutely loved it.