Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release
March 27, 2000

National Scholar Examines Origins of Universe in Lawrence University
Lecture  


     APPLETON, WIS. -- What did the universe look like before 'the big
bang" that blasted entire galaxies out into the cosmos?
     Michael Turner, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the
University of Chicago and a scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory, offers a peek at the beginning of time in a Lawrence
University science hall colloquium.  Turner presents, "Evolution of the
Universe," April 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Youngchild Hall Room 161.  The event
is free and open to the public.
     Going back to a time when entire galaxies existed only as quantum
fluctuations in the fuzzy subatomic world, Turner will discuss the
lastest scientific theories on the origin and current state of the
universe.  He will examine cutting edge views on the relationship
between galaxies and the elementary particles left over from the big
bang as well as a mysterious form of engery that pervades the universe,
causing its expansion to speed up rather than slow down. 
     Co-author of the book, "The Early Universe" and a member of the
National Academy of Sciences, Turner has taught at the University of
Chicago since 1980.  He earned his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford
University.