The renowned researcher, invited by the IAC as part of the Fundación Occident Visiting Researchers programme, will analyse the unresolved questions that still surround the origin and evolution of the Universe.
On 10 July, at 17:00, the Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos will host the public lecture “Cosmology: the nightmare of contemporary Physics?”, delivered by the distinguished astronomer and cosmologist Julio Navarro, Professor at the University of Victoria, in Canada. The event forms part of his stay at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) within the Fundación Occident Visiting Researchers programme, an initiative aimed at fostering international scientific exchange and collaboration with researchers of recognised prestige. It has been promoted by the cross-cutting project “Dark Matter: observations, models and detection”, and the IAC research lines “Galaxies” and “Milky Way and Local Group”.
During the lecture, Navarro will address some of the greatest enigmas currently facing Physics. Although scientific knowledge has made it possible to understand matter and the fundamental forces of nature with extraordinary precision, profound unknowns remain when it comes to explaining the origin of the Universe, its evolution or the nature of its main components.
The talk will offer an accessible overview of how Cosmology has become one of the most active frontiers of scientific research. Questions such as dark matter, dark energy and the limits of current physical theories will be among the topics explored to explain why the Universe continues to pose fundamental challenges to our understanding of the laws of nature.
A leading figure in cosmology
Julio Navarro was born in Santiago del Estero, Argentina, in 1962. He is Professor of Astronomy in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria, in Canada. His academic career began at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, in Argentina, and has continued at some of the world’s most prestigious institutions, including the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the universities of Cambridge, Durham, Arizona and Massachusetts.
His research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies and galaxy clusters, as well as on the structure of dark matter haloes. He is especially known for co-authoring, together with Carlos Frenk and Simon White, the so-called NFW profile, one of the most influential models for describing the distribution of dark matter in the Universe and a fundamental reference in modern cosmology.
Over the course of his career, he has published more than 350 scientific papers, which have accumulated more than 75,000 citations in the specialised literature. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of Argentina and the Royal Society of Canada, and has received distinctions from institutions such as the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany and the Royal Society in the United Kingdom. In 2020, he was included in the list of Citation Laureates for his scientific contributions of exceptional impact.
Event information
Lecture: Cosmology: the nightmare of contemporary Physics?
Speaker: Julio Navarro, University of Victoria, Canada
Date: 10 July 2026
Time: 17:00
Venue: Museo de la Ciencia y el Cosmos, La Laguna, Tenerife
Admission: Free until full capacity is reached
