Michael Turner, the theoretical cosmologist who coined the term “dark energy,” will visit Missouri University of Science and Technology and host two guest lectures this spring.

Turner, the Bruce V. & Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago, will present a lecture titled “The Dark Side of the Universe” starting at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 20, in Leach Theatre of Castleman Hall, 10th and Main streets in Rolla. The lecture is free and open to the public.

At 4 p.m. Thursday, March 20, Turner will speak at a physics colloquium titled “The Big Mysteries of Cosmology” for current students in Room 104 Physics Building, and is geared towards current S&T students.

Turner, who is also president of the American Physical Society and director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at Chicago, earned his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University in 1978. His co-written book “The Early Universe,” published in 1990, is a standard textbook on cosmology.

During his career, Turner has earned the Helen B. Warner Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the Julius Edgar Lilienfeld Prize from the American Physical Society and the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics from the American Astronomical Society and the American Institute of Physics. His research covers dark matter, big bang theory and dark energy.

For more information about the lecture, contact the S&T physics department at 573-341-4781.