Most of the matter in the Universe is dark matter: an elusive particle that is completely invisible. But we can “see” this matter by studying how it distorts the light from galaxies in the distant Universe, a phenomenon called gravitational lensing. I will give a whirlwind tour of gravitational lensing’s “greatest hits” showing how it can be used as a tool to understand some of the most mysterious things in the Universe: from black holes to the “cosmic web” of dark matter that links galaxies together.
Mike Hudson received his Ph.D. from the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge in 1993 where studied the expansion of the Universe. He did post-doctoral research work at Durham University and at the University of Victoria in Canada, where he was a National Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics. In 1999, he moved to the University of Waterloo, where he is currently Professor. His scientific interests include the nature of dark matter and dark energy, how the Universe expands, and how galaxies form and evolve. He can be found on Twitter as @MikeHudsonAstro