Our Views: Probing start of universe
With football season in full swing, attention seems to focus on LSU’s athletes at this time of year, but we need to recognize and celebrate the scientists and scholars who advance the university’s central mission, learning and research.
All of this came to mind with the news that two LSU researchers have been awarded a $250,000 grant by the nonprofit John Templeton Foundation to study the origins of the universe.
LSU Assistant Professor Parampreet Singh and Assistant Research Professor Peter Diener, both in the LSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, will use supercomputers on LSU’s campus to process profoundly complicated equations involving the Big Bang Theory — the idea that the universe formed from an ever-expanding explosion of matter.
We’re glad that this kind of deep scholarship is being pursued at LSU, but such research faces large funding challenges as state support shrinks for LSU and other Louisiana institutions of higher learning. But supporting such initiatives is critical in advancing LSU’s mission as a national research institution.
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