Richard Easther

Following the commencement of his PhD studies in 1994, Richard held post-doctoral fellowships at Waseda University in Japan and at Brown and Columbia Universities in the United States. He was a professor at Yale University from 2004, returning to New Zealand at the end of 2011. Richard is a theoretical cosmologist with a focus on the physics of the early universe and how we can use present-day observations to test competing theories of the primordial universe. He has a particular interest in the evolution of the universe during the “primordial dark ages” between the end of inflation and the nucleosynthesis era, a period a few minutes after the big bang when chemical elements more complicated than hydrogen formed. His research areas also include the cosmological implications of string theory, the multiverse and eternal inflation, astrophysical tests of models of the early universe, and dark matter and cosmological observables. Richard is also interested in how universities can teach as effectively as possible and contributes to outreach and science communication as a speaker and blogger. He is co-founder of the University of Auckland Science Scholars programme and co-organiser of the Auckland Programme for Space Systems (APSS).

Richard’s Involvement