What is dark matter? Where is it? Do we need it? How much is there? Prof. Peter Fisher explains the problem of dark matter, the mysterious, invisible stuff that holds galaxies together. He also describes the current big hunt for dark matter and the unique project he and his collaborators have designed to identify it.
Peter Fisher is Professor of Physics in the Physics Department at MIT and head of the Division of Particle and Nuclear Experimental Physics there. He also holds appointments in MIT’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science and the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. Dr. Fisher’s major research areas are dark matter and high-energy interactions, and he has published extensively on neutrinos and cosmic rays. He and his team have are leading one of the major experiments at CERN, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer(AMS) experiment, which is designed to make high-precision measurements of cosmic rays.